Healing Rhythms of Grace at the James Place Preschool
I prepare my classroom for 19 little souls to come through the open air curtain for another day. Four mahogany tables. Nineteen chairs. The morning message printed neatly on the chalkboard with today's date. The schedule is set, the plans are made. I anticipate the songs, laughter, worries, and questions the children will bring each day.
I am approaching my seventh month in Uganda and my 126th morning at the James Place. I'm well settled into the rhythm of this place.
The routines at the James Place Preschool harbor tiny hearts in a rhythm that provides safety and security critical for learning. In a community where the average household income is $0.50 a day, children never know what challenges are waiting for them at home when they leave our gates.
8,000 miles away, my hometown, Nashville, was devastated by a tornado, destroying lives, homes, businesses, and entire neighborhoods. When unexpected tragedy strikes, the stars are torn from the sky, the silver linings from the clouds, and we are forced to confront our powerlessness. We feel our own lack of control against the throes of illness, loss, and unforeseeable circumstances.
We hug our children a little tighter. Take a deeper pause to breathe in the sunrise and thank God for another day of life. We grasp for a higher power perspective to ease our worried minds.
Mr. Rogers encourages us to "look for the helpers." Combat the fears with action. Overcome the darkness with Love.
We are united by the unescapable joined experience of suffering.
For a child in poverty, every day confronts them with the feeling of powerlessness and uncertainty. By holistically serving our neighbors through providing jobs, empowerment, education, nutrition, and love, HEAL Ministries responds daily to the poverty that overwhelms the world outside of our gates.
When the children walk through the gates in their pressed plaid uniforms and well-worn shoes, they know they are safe. They know they will see Sylvia, bent in half like a love letter sweeping the steps and keeping their environment clean. They know Alice and Faith will feed them a nutritious variety of food four times a day, and their teachers will make sure they clean their plates. They know their scrapes and bruises will be mended. The teachers will celebrate when they grow and push them to do their best. They know at the end of a long day, they will have a quiet place to lay their head and sleep.
Education theorist Alfie Kohn says, "If children feel safe, they can take risks, asks questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow." Our daily routine is woven with ways to nurture the whole development of a child. To let them know that they are loved and safe.
At the James Place, we place our hope in something more sure than the rising sun, the routines, lunch bells, and daily lesson plans.
Jesus said, "I'll show you... Walk with Me and work with Me- watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace" (Matthew 11:28-38 MSG).
This is the rhythm that heals us, comforts us, quells our worries, carries our dreams beyond the shore.
The song that sings come close and listen to the story about a Love more faithful than the morning.
At the James Place, we strive to dance in that rhythm of Love.
That is the source of our power and the reason we see souls set free and hearts dance with joy in the midst of suffering every Friday at praise and worship.
We instill in tiny hearts a deep knowledge of the One who will never leave or forsake them. One who promises to walk through the valleys and the mountains.
At the James Place, we see children's lives transform every day by the power of this Love.