Take Root! 

Greetings VCS families and Body of Christ,

We are very excited here to look forward to spring!  Open houses, Education Fair,  Conferences, Terra Nova and ACT testing, Spring formal, and Cleanathon will make this semester go quickly!  

I was reflecting on how quickly January and February have gone.  Weren’t we  just deciding for ourselves “new habits” or “resolutions” we had hoped to move on this fresh new year.  By now we have probably evaluated how well we are doing many many times.  

I have the great privilege and joy of chatting with students here and there throughout the day and visiting this very topic.  The habits we form become the habits that begin to define our character and who we tell ourselves “we are.”  It is so easy to shrug things off and intend to change them later, but the hard work begins one decision at a time.  

This morning in the girls home room, we talked about how easy it is to find our hearts hardening. It is the slow fade of becoming accustomed to gossip, pessimism, assuming, or falling into habits that we know are not “good for us.”  It’s easy to “give ourselves a pass” because we know we love Christ and that we serve a loving and forgiving Heavenly Father.  But these habits, when they take root, were never meant to define us. What should define us is the Holy Spirit at work in us!  This is the Gospel message: He has done for us, what we could not do for ourselves.  If He would do this, would He not surely enable us through the Holy Spirit to also help us to change when we know we cannot do this on our own?  

The challenge is in John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”  

He calls us to abide in Him. This is the daily habit that allows Him the great joy of doing in us and for us what we cannot do for ourselves!  

When we abide in Him, we are softening the soil of our hearts, offering Him a place for His word to land, take root, and change us. His work in these conditions will now be stewarded well because we have prepared a place for them to flourish!  It is a beautiful process full of so much hope, healing, recovery, and rest from the striving we otherwise hopelessly require of ourselves to endure!  

My prayer for each of us as we enter the weekend is that our hearts would be a soft place for His Spirit to dwell!  I pray that we would allow Him to do in us what we cannot by striving do for ourselves. And I pray that His rest would fuel us for the privilege of all He wants to partner with us in for His glory next week!  

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me and let me know how He is growing you. Let us know how we can be praying for you and your families.  We are so grateful to be part of the VCS family and body of Christ with you.  

In Christ Always,

Kathy Thompson