In the novel Great Expectations, the main character Pip is a picture of what many of your students will be like this year. Ungrateful at times. Generous at others. Unsure how to face the pressures of life, but determined to survive. Scared one minute and brave the next. Just as Pip’s attitude and outlook seemed always in flux, the same eight faces you will see every weekend this next year could show up as one of a hundred different kids from week to week. How do you prepare for that? The best first step will be to make sure that your expectations are not focused on what you will encounter each week, but on the God whom they can encounter.
“God, will you please move in the hearts of the students who will show up today?” “God, will you use your scripture to speak to our students today?” “God, will you inhabit our table time and turn it into something special today?”
When our expectations turn away from what we can accomplish and how we are going to motivate our students, and instead are centered on the movement of God, then not only will those expectations be stretched, but so will the work we see in our students and ourselves.
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3