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The Goodness of God …. And Our Call to Follow Suit

As we enter the month of March, begin to prepare for March Break and start to see the somewhat return to normal, we as a school begin our look at the Fruit of the Spirit called goodness.  Now it seems unfair in a way that we will have a limited number of days in school this month to really focus on this particular fruit as we have every other month for the ones before.  However, there are so many opportunities for us to tangibly take note of the examples of goodness we have experienced in our own lives, that it kind of makes up for it.  

Personally I can think of the many blessings He has afforded me in my role as principal, the amazing friends and connections that have crossed my path through the years, my children, and countless other times I have been blessed through no effort or good reasons of my own.  Even as I write this blog, sitting here in a hotel room in San Diego at a Principal’s Conference given as a gift, I am reminded of God’s amazing love for us and the goodness he pours out to us every day, even when we maybe feel that we don’t deserve it. This ultimately points me back to the cross and the goodness of God, that even in my sinful nature, wholly undeserving of His saving grace, He chose to be open-hearted and generous with me, and with you, beyond and above what we deserve.

And this is the definition that we are using to unpack the truth of this Fruit of the Spirit.  Goodness is the selfless desire to be open-hearted and generous to others above what they deserve.

Now it would be all well and good to stop here and make sure we are all aware of God’s goodness, and we should acknowledge it every day, but, we need to understand that we are also called to exhibit this fruit in our lives.  God’s goodness is carried out through His children.  It started with Christ’s selfless desire to give of His heart to us above what we deserved.  As we are called to emulate His life, we are tasked to follow His lead.

When I think of those blessings and goodness I spoke of earlier, many of them are the direct result of someone heeding that call.  This conference for example was made possible by a group of people who don’t know me or my situation, but want to bless principals who want to grow in their leadership and their roles to serve their communities.  I can speak of countless times where people have extended grace and mercy when I was clearly wrong.  I didn’t deserve it, but it was given freely and selflessly. Take time today to consider the times others have lavished goodness on you.

And on the flip side we are called to the same selfless desire to be open-hearted and generous.  What does that look like in your life? How have you chosen to build into and develop this selfless desire to extend God’s goodness to others above what they deserve?  As we break for March Break my challenge to the students and our families is to take time to discuss and then actively look for ways to extend God’s goodness to those we come in contact with even when we maybe don’t know them or if they deserve that goodness.  How do we build that desire within us and then act?  When we return I hope to discuss with the students about some of their examples and experiences of extending God’s goodness to others.  As a school we will be discussing ways for us as a community to extend this goodness into the community and world beyond our walls on a more consistent basis and I look forward to sharing those with you at the end of the month.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. - Galatians 6:9-10