I have taken on some new leadership positions at my church and, once again, I am struck with how well CFG practices and protocols transfer to non-school settings.

For example, I help facilitate a small group of ladies. Most of us are at-home moms with small children. This summer, we are studying the book Parenting With Love and Logic by Foster W. Cline and Jim Fay. On the first meeting day, we did a modified Best Ever protocol that focused on good experiences that we've had as parents. From that, we developed this list of qualities of effective parents that will act like norms for the group:

We will strive to bring our best selves to this class and to our children.

We will. . .
be calm and patient
be rested
be interactive and responsive
set expectations and model adult behavior
rise to the challenge, and
PRAY

This Wednesday, all the moms are bringing written parenting dilemmas, and we will use the consultancy protocol.

Also, I am now the chairperson of the Children's Ministry Council. At our first meeting, we engaged in a Chalk Talk about how children are involved in the five different purposes of our church (worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and mission).

Most importantly, I have found this space so effective with helping me reflect about my work in education that I have started a separate blog to help me reflect on my work in the church.

I have been working on another article about the blog for the NSRF Journal Connections. Outlining the article has made me wonder, what exactly is "reflecting" and why do I believe it's valuable?

I've learned that "reflect" is a word that I throw around a lot without being able to define it succictly. When I went to the dictionary, I found these definitions:
reflect--to think or consider seriously
reflection--concentration of the mind; careful consideration
reflective--meditative, pensive

The entry for pensive included this usage note: reflective expresses a more analytical deliberation about past experience or about something that has just happened, often as a process of second thought or reappraisal of a particular occurrence.

Unpacking the meaning of these words has helped me think more clearly about why reflecting is valuable and how the blog helps me do it more effectively.