Thanksgiving - Translates feedback into follow-up actions

Devonte likes to look for me to play Jenga blocks in Saints Haven.

Sometimes we like to build tall structures using the Jenga blocks

As you may know, the key to building tall structures is a good foundation

When the table underneath that structure is shaky, it is not easy to build a tall structure.

At the end of his famous Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, Jesus told the crowds a story about a wise man and a foolish man.

Matthew 7:24–27 ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house,

but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house,

and it fell, and great was the fall of it.””

Doesn’t this story remind of the famous story of the 3 littles pigs and the big bad wolf?

Which pig was the wisest one?

The one who built his house out of bricks, correct?

But if we’re honest with ourselves, we are often more like the other 2 pigs who built their houses out of straw and sticks

Or the foolish man who built his house on the sand.

And when the rain or the big bad wolf comes, will your house stand?

And this is our big idea for today: Build on a firm foundation.

Another way to put it is: Start Well to End Well

This is Week 1, the beginning of a new school year

After a long school holiday, many of us are still trying to adjust back to school life.

For the P1s, adjusting to a new place, new friends, new teachers.

For everyone, having to wake up early to get the school.

And for the P6s, adjusting to the reality that this is your last year in SAJS.

There were many lessons that we’ve learnt in 2024

How can I apply the value of thanksgiving to look back at the lessons that God has taught me?

Through the good things and bad things that have happened in my life.

Through the wise advice that my teachers, parents, and friends have given to me.

And especially through the devotions and messages you’ve heard from your principals, pastors, and teachers.

Jesus’s words and promises to us is that “everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man”.

But we’ve got to do “hearing” and “doing” daily and consistently.

Every day, as you hear and do Jesus’s words, you are building up your house on the rock.

Every day, as you listen and translate godly feedback into follow-up actions, you are building a house made of bricks.

As you go back home and rest for the second weekend in 2025,

Think about what kind of 2025 you would like to have.

Will it be a good and fruitful year, which you can look back with much thanksgiving this time next year?

As the second verse in our school song say:

“Fair before us lies the way,

Time for work and time for play;

Fill the measure while we may;

Up and On!”