Shalom

Tonight we had a very interesting lesson about Shalom. I learned from this lesson as much as the girls did I think. Shalom not only means "Peace" (that is what I always thought of it as) and the absence of conflict, but it means harmony, completeness. It means all is well in our relationships with individuals, communities and God. When we sin we break Shalom because sin destroys relationships (with God and people.)

We also learned about justice -the world's view of justice and God's view of justice. God's idea of justice is ultimately Shalom restored. We shouldn't take revenge when we are wronged, and when we wrong someone we must take responsibility for our actions, show remorse, seek forgiveness and reconcile the relationship that was hurt because of the sin.

At first tonight, I wondered if any of the information was soaking into these girls' heads at all. There was a lot of goofing around, chattering and giggling during the lesson. Even some behavior that I did not think was so acceptable. At the end of the lesson I told the girls I would not be rewarding any points because of how they acted. Well, the girls who misbehaved came up to me after the lesson and very humbly apologized to me. I could tell they truly meant it. I was very proud of them for doing that. (They WERE listening after all!!! ) Some of the other girls followed suit and apologized as well. Wow. Shalom restored.

I continue to be amazed at the growth I see in the girls. (Even though some days are better than others LOL.) And I really want to thank Ruth and Julia for coming and helping me out! Of course everyone loved having Julia around...what a sweetie!! :P

Until next time...
Heidi