Saturday, August 23, 2014

Faith and Fortitude

It has been a while since I have posted on my blog and a lot has happened since then.  I would like to be consistent with writing again.  A theme that comes to mind especially with the start of a new school year is faith and fortitude.

I used to think about faith in a certain way.  However, especially over the past few months, faith has taken on a whole new meaning for me.  Kiran Shaikh says, "Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together.   What you have always wished for has finally come to be.   Maybe not the way you had wanted it.   But even better than you could ever have imagined."   We all have bridges to cross.   Sometimes we cannot see what is on the other side.   Eventually, we all have to cross a bridge.   Faith is a driving force that can help us to get to the other side.   It gives us the tool of hope to move forward and to know there is something better on the other side of that bridge.  To me, hope coincides with fortitude.

Fortitude is an emotional and mental strength that enables people to face difficulties and push through them. It is like a muscle that gets stronger through difficult experiences.  The more a person uses their growing faith to reach the vision that they can not physically see, that faith becomes a flashlight to know the steps to take in order to get there.  Having the fortitude to push forward is experienced during the process of reaching that given destination.  Even when that destination is reached, we become fortunate enough to realize a lot of things.  One of those things is to hopefully realize that the destination we thought we were striving to reach is actually only a point in which we can take a break before moving on to the next bridge.

So, as the school year starts, whether you are a teacher, a parent, and/or an administrator, remember what faith and fortitude means to you.  Remember what your goals are for the day, weeks, or months.  Keep in mind what your goals are for the children and or your staff.  Realize that they may also have goals too.  Talk to them about goals, and if appropriate, faith and fortitude.  I hope you have a great start to your year and may the concepts of faith and fortitude be something empowering for you to reflect on with joy.