“As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” –Colossians 2:6-7
Working with kids is a curious thing. One second you feel super and have everything under control and the next second a student, who was fine one moment, has now has suddenly become ill at the snack table; another second you feel confident these children are growing and maturing rather quickly and the next second they’re refusing to talk to their friend over a pencil.
Over these past five years, working at El Sistema has made me reconsider how I approach different topics with children. Seemingly simple and commonly understood words and phrases take many different conversations and actions to explain. Things like “all in a day’s work,” local elections, consideration, and gratitude. To accurately convey to a child what these things mean takes patience, understanding, and curiosity.
One of the first times I remember communicating to a child about gratitude was over something simple. We were having students write cards and draw pictures for our generous donors thanking them for their contribution. This young boy couldn’t understand why he would thank someone he didn’t know. I began to explain gratitude and how we can be grateful for someone or something even if we will never meet them. Grace and graciousness are often considered from a child’s point of view to be a quick smile, nod, and thank you to someone who gives you a gift but to truly live with gratitude is much more nuanced. Consider the janitor that cleans your office complex in the evenings, the mailman who delivers your mail, the construction workers that repair our roads, the people that have an impact on us that we may never meet.
Living out a value is a difficult thing to do, both in practice and explanation, but it is something that can truly enrich their life and help them more deeply appreciate things they experience throughout their life. For me and that child, taking that moment to pause and consider this commonly understood concept offered a moment to truly understand what it means to be grateful.
-Laura Moon, Site Director, El Sistema Oklahoma
