By: Brendon O’Dowd, head of school

Blessing and cursing … words not too often used today but words that are so important to our covenant community. This year’s memory verses, Jeremiah 17:5-10, will help us explore what it means to be blessed and to be cursed.

The world has its own definitions of these words, though words like “affirmed” and “canceled” are often used instead. Since the world's standards are ever-changing, we want to begin a new school year recognizing the truth of God’s Word.

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.’” 
(Jeremiah 17:5-10)

Jeremiah lays out a comparison for us in these verses. We think people with big muscles are strong, but God says trusting in Him makes a person strong. We think people with big money are powerful, but God says trusting in Him allows you to flourish even in times of drought. What we think needs to be filtered by what God thinks!

As we begin this school year, my prayer is that we would be rooted in the Word of God so that we may be people of God who are truly blessed.