come unto me
February 17, 2012
Let the children come. How fitting, considering my recent readings and inspirations, was the lesson I had for today’s Funday School. Come unto me, He said. To the least of these. For the activity portion of the lesson, I had the children cover sheets of red and green butcher paper with drawings or words illustrating how they are told to “stop” and how J demonstrated “go” . . . or, rather, “come,” to Him. This led to some interesting depictions of sibling interactions and parental intrusions, as one might imagine. Then we all came to J together, with our prayer requests. One little one raised his hand. “I came from Canada. And I miss my home,” he deliberately articulated. After a few more children had spoken, he raised his hand again, “I have a dog in Canada. Her name is Roxie. And she died. We had to kill her, because she was hurting . . . I miss my dog.”
For a bit, I could say reply with nothing more eloquent than “Oh!” Eventually I recovered my proper teacher mode enough to give a more appropriate consolation. It did remind me, however, that work with little ones is a constant exercise in improvisation. That and the fact that I actually mis-prepared one activity, thinking the children had already done one story that they had not. A bit of re-staging the scene, and of reminding myself that children were pretty forgiving, and all was soon well again. But when it came down to it, I think I probably learned more from the lesson than I taught.
Let the children come. Let the weary gown-ups come. Come and find rest.
The little ones are so honest, and their hearts so transparent. If we are open to it, they can teach us so much. Love your green/red lesson!