those who mourn

For today’s “Funday School,” we were once again studying Esther, and continuing with the beatitudes. This being the 2nd week, we moved on to learn “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” I spoke of Mordecai’s time of mourning and fasting, and told the children that God wants us to bring our mourning to him: that it’s ok to be sad. And that He promises to comfort us. Then I asked the to draw a picture, or write a few words, illustrating a time when they were mourning. I gave them a few minutes to think about it, then walked around to see their progress. Thinking it might help if I gave them an example from my own life, I told them that when I was their age, I was very sad for quite some time–mourning because my Dad had died. I also added the fact that their own examples could be anything, that it didn’t have to be as big as death in order to be important. Then I noticed one little girl writing a phrase on her own paper that said, simply, When my Dad died. For a moment I was confused, wondering if she had misunderstood. Then I realized that this was actually one of the 2 little girls who just lost their father. The family had been in this country for only a few months when he died in one of the city attacks last month. I gulped back tears as I carried on with the lesson, and prayed with the children. Giving thanks, silently, for the words I had been prompted to speak.