As the Elevate Associate, I get the privilege of teaching 6th and 7th graders in the Middle School Sunday Morning Community. Our Sunday lessons have been known to include everything from a structured curriculum lesson to discussing the relevance of “Veggie Tale” movies to our daily lives (which I personally feel is still possible to do, even at 28 years of age!). However, this past Sunday I decided to focus on the Easter story one last time (I mean, can you REALLY hear the story of the resurrection too many times?). Well, it turns out that maybe you can . . . The students quickly showed me how well they had been listening to recent lessons, because they had no trouble going all the way back to Moses and the Passover to connect it to the resurrection of Jesus, all without missing a beat. So this then meant I had to come up with another lesson pretty quickly! Suddenly, as the reality of the bright sunshine out the window hit me, I decided we should all go outside for a sort of experiential exercise in the prayer garden! Our class of nine students and I headed out to the gazebo and made a circle. For some reason, God put it on my heart to use the rest of the time simply going around and around the circle to share things for which we are thankful.

Here is what some of our students had to say: I am thankful for:  . . . school being almost over . . . my dog . . . friends  . . . my family taking a trip soon . . . my sports team . . . technology . . .
Then things slowly started to progress: I am thankful for: . . . the fact that we can stand out here and say what we are thankful for without having to be scared . . . clean water . . . Jesus dying for us . . . music . . . clothing . . . food . . . our car . . . our church . . .
And then finally I heard this: I am thankful for: . . . the fact that my dad has a job right now, so his insurance can take care of my mom who has brain cancer -- and the fact that I will probably get to have her for another couple of years. I was blown away. This last student is GENUINELY THANKFUL for these circumstances. What an inspiring example of praising God through an awful storm. This was a real lesson for me. I’m so grateful for these middle schoolers and can’t wait to see what these nine fellow teachers show me next!

- Staci Stringer works part-time with Elevate. She also sings with the musical worship team at The Table.