What Emily Didn't Know

There is a sophomore at our school whose name is Emily. She has been at WCS at least since kindergarten and she is wonderful in every way someone can be wonderful. I was her Bible teacher when she was in 8th grade and her camp basketball coach when she was about seven. My favorite memory of her came when she was in kindergarten. Over the years, I've spent a considerable amount of time in our lower grades, coordinating our Honduras/Haiti orphanage project, so the kids are familiar and comfortable with me. One day, I entered Emily's classroom and her teacher, Gereta Semanek, told me,
"Coach Hawley, Emily wants to sang you a song!"
So, I sat down and this five year old with the confidence of an opera star, sang the best solo I've ever had directed at me. You don't forget a moment like that! As she has grown, Emily has blossomed into a straight A student and a volleyball player who last fall received an award from the Houston Volleyball Association. My guess is she will have her choice of colleges and universities when she graduates in May of 2023. You would be correct in surmising Emily comes from a terrific family- I also had the honor of teaching her older brother, Jack. He's exceptional as well.

Emily is also quite an actress. Three weeks ago, our Westbury Christian Fine Arts Department put on the musical, The Great Gilly Hopkins, which focuses on a child bouncing around in the foster care system. Emily was one of the main characters, playing Maime Trotter, the loving and protecting foster mom who refuses to give up on kids in her care. Emily played her role, acted by famed Kathy Bates in the movie version, like a pro. All the student actors did the same. In fact, the performance was so good, I did not want it to end. Our young ensemble, under the direction of Ronnie Blaine, was superb.

The Texas weather you've heard about came in less than forty eight hours after the final show, the one I attended, resulting in all schools in the Houston area being shuttered for a week. I spotted Emily that Monday we returned in the hall outside the room of Malaika Lund, our Spanish instructor and a vital member of the drama staff. I greeted her with these words:
"Hey, Emily, I saw you on TMZ!"
Quizzically, she replied with, "What, Coach?"
I repeated myself: "Saw you on TMZ!"
Her next words? "Coach, I don't know what TMZ is."
I recovered and amended my statement. "I saw you on the cover of  People Magazine!"
She got that and with a smile that a mask can't hide, she told me, "Thanks, Coach Hawley!" It was definitely worth a moment's confusion.

If you are like Emily and don't recognize the initials TMZ, I'll give you a short overview. It's a television show focusing on celebrities, like I implied Emily is.  But, it focuses, and I would guess profits, on the scandals which befall them, often due to their poor choices. The famous folks are many times portrayed in unflattering photos at their absolute worst. The background chatter of the reporters borders on what my mom would call, risque. How do I know all this? I know it because I used to watch it. It was entertaining and funny and there is something in us that enjoys the humbling of those we perceive as proud and richer than we are. I always felt a bit uneasy- not enough to make me change the channel- that it wasn't helping me live by the words of Paul in Philippians 4, verse 8:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Those weren't the kinds of thoughts emphasized when I watched so eventually, I stopped. This is no condemnation of anyone who watches the show; like I said, it has a huge market and I used to shake my head and laugh at the mistakes and foibles of the notables in our culture. They simply have the misfortune of fame. The rest of us tend to mess up in anonymity to an audience of very few. We probably need daily reminders of Jesus' teaching about specks of dust in the eyes of others and planks in our own.

That brings me back to Emily. When I asked permission to write about her, she quickly gave it. Of course, Emily wanted to know the topic;  it would revolve around something she said in our hallway conversation. She had no idea to what I was referring, which is kind of the point. Emily has a pure heart, the kind which would not want to muddy itself with media content which could drag her down, the kind David asked God to create in him in Psalm 51:10. I define a pure heart in my classes as not only refraining from evil, the thought doesn't even cross my mind. For example, a believer would not retaliate when wronged AND  would never even consider retaliation. That's where I think Emily is. She sees the good in others and not the flaws. Jesus, in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, tells us the pure in heart are blessed because they will see God. From my hallway perspective, I'm pretty sure Emily is close to 20-20 vision in that regard. I guess she'll never see the letters T, M, and Z on that eye chart.

Applicable quote of the day:
Great thoughts and a pure heart, that is what we should ask from God. 
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
E-mail me at shawley@westburychristian.org