Our theme for this school year is “Have Courage and Be Kind” At dinner we talked about our theme. First, what it means to have courage. Courage is more that simply being brave. It is more that doing something that is scary. Courage is doing the right thing, even if you are afraid of doing it. Sometimes it takes great courage to do what is right in this day, and I’m afraid it will only become more difficult to do so as time goes on. We want our kids to have the courage to stand up and be one who is always doing what is right, irregardless of what may be popular.
The second part of our theme: Be Kind – Kindness is more than simply being nice. Once can be nice with good manners and complete indifference. But kindness is a skill – an ability to see those around us, to understand their needs, and attend to those needs with gentleness. We want our kids to be kind, to help the weak, the weary and the invisible ones to have a voice, and to have a friend. We want our kids to develop the skill of seeing people, not for the surface of what is going on, but the depth of who they are and what they need. In this way they will be able serve those around them, and serve their Heavenly Father.
This back to school dinner may have been the most simple yet. With the house packed up for a move, I didn’t have supplies to do anything elaborate. I did paint a theme, and we went to the cabin for a yummy steak dinner. But I didn’t do anything much beyond that.