Okay, enough with the "waiting-is-hard" whiny blog posts. This morning I was reminded of the good reason why waiting is hard--I love kids. Love 'em! Each Sunday, I get to spend two hours playing with and teaching about a dozen or so four year olds. It is messy, unorganized, exhausting, and my favorite two hours of every week.
Around adults, I'm super shy. I literally have a system, honed over several years, that will ensure no stranger will ever talk to me on an airplane. I can't do small talk; I never chat with people in line for things; I respond to any conversational overtures with monosyllables, bright red cheeks, and nervous giggles. But stick me in a room full of children I've never met before? I'm as comfortable and happy as can be.
Here are some highlights from this morning, just to give you a peek:
Two different kids came in the room this morning on their first visit to the church. Both were crying as they were parentally pushed into the room; both were playing happily within seconds. Win.
A brother and sister came who had been in my class only once before (sometime in July). I remembered both their names and greeted them joyfully at the door. (Thanks Holy Spirit!)
Thanks to my utter lack of hand/eye coordination, I hit one of my 'regulars' in the head with a block (a foam one). He thought it was the funniest thing that had happened all day.
We may have accidentally taught the kids that they had all just been baptized by a blue towel. (When great illustrations go wrong...) It was like the time I read my nephew a Spurgeon devotional and somehow gave him the idea that Jesus was an alien. Parents, this is why you can't leave the spiritual training of your children to a bunch of volunteers who teach them for an hour a week. Also, sorry about the towel thing. We tried to correct it during snack time, but you may have some very confused kids who exclaim "I'm being baptized!" every time you dry them off after bathtime. Oops.
I got to see a priceless look on one boy's face as he turned to me, mouth full of goldfish, and spluttered, "I swallowed my gum."
One darling girl prattled at me continuously through the morning, asking me hilariously personal questions (where do you live? how old are you? are you married?). When she asked me why I wasn't married, I said "I like to do things by myself" with a big grin. She looked at me like I had just told her I was an astronaut. It was awesome.
At the end of the teaching time, the lead teacher told the children, "find your teacher" so we could line up to leave. As the kids mobbed my legs, I exclaimed dramatically, "you found me! Oh I'm so glad!" They absolutely loved this, and I think it will become a weekly ritual.
Kids. I love them. They are so creative, so curious, so cuddly. They think it's fun to skip down a hallway making train sounds and singing out "potty train! choo choo!" And they love that I think it's fun too.
Is it any wonder that Jesus rebuked His disciples for keeping children from Him? I think we could all use more time spent teaching children and letting them teach us right back.
Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” --Matthew 19:13-14
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