Teaching Kindergarten at a Private Christian School is such a blessing for so many reasons: you have one-on-one time with all your students, you have the support of parents 100%, you don't have to meet the ridiculous state requirements, you teach on the level of each child individually, the atmosphere and the other teachers are incredible and the list goes on, but the biggest blessing is being able to incorporate Christ into ALL my teaching. In my lesson plans I can talk about the Lord, we have character traits we work on weekly that have a bible verse to memorize along with it, in my discipline I can quote scripture, we pray together daily and I have the privilege of hearing the most precious thoughts about Christ from the mouths of children!!
In Phonics we have memory verses from A-Z like "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" or "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right" or "Keep your tongue from evil." We often talk about the meanings of these verses and we usually follow them up with an applicable story. Our "N" verse is "No man can serve two masters," which is kind of a difficult idea for a child to understand...so I thought. I proceeded to summarize the whole scripture passage for them in a "5 year old" kind of way, but little did I know that my sweet Caitlin would summarize it back to me in a "life-changing, faith provoking" kind of way.
Matthew 6:19-24: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your eyes will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, then how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
This is the paraphrased conversation that followed:
Mrs. Holmes my mom went through my closet this weekend to get rid of the clothes that didn't fit me anymore. She put my pink polka dotted dress that I love in the trash bag for donations bc my little sister isn't big enough to wear it, so it can't be a hand-me-down yet. I asked her if we could keep if for when Elizabeth gets older, but she said no. I started crying and crying. My dad took me with him to this dumpster for the donations and told me that giving my dress away would make some other little girl very happy. He told me we shouldn't keep it if it didn't fit anymore when some other little girl could feel pretty in it now. I thought when she found that pretty polka dotted dress she would be so happy, just like I was when I got to wear it. My daddy gave me the bag to help him toss it into the donation dumpster and I stopped crying bc I knew another little girl would be happy now. "Is that what it means to not serve two masters, Mrs. Holmes?"
My heart melted listening to her precious story told through the eyes of a child. There was such simplicity behind her story, but the profound meaning behind her polka dotted dress is exactly what Christ was saying when He told us to be "devoted to one" and "not serve two masters." She chose to dump the treasures (literally) that this world offers and serve Christ. She chose Christ over the pleasures of this world! What a reminder to me that Christ has called us to live for the Kingdom, storing things up for eternity, not this present life. And what a reminder that we are called to have the faith of a child; what a blessing to be able to hear that childlike faith, see that innocence and experience His beauty through the life of a child.
Mark 10:14-15: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His word... ~Joni Erickson Tada
Childlike faith focuses on our Heavenly Father -not on our fears. ~Unknown
