But Jesus asked the children to come to him. "Let the little children come to me," he said. "Don't keep them away. God's Kingdom belongs to people like them." Luke 18:16 New International Reader's Version
Lest you think that my heart has only sad songs to sing, I wanted to share two of "my kids" with you today. By "my kids" today, I mean any child or youth who has come through VBS , children's choirs and/or youth choirs with me as their leader or helper. Today's two guys fit all three descriptions - and I'm so happy to say they still greet me with hugs though they are both in college. {Since I haven't asked them whether it is okay to use their real names, I've changed their names to protect their privacy. Their moms will recognize them because these stories were shared with them years ago.}
My first little guy, Brody, was all of 4 years old one summer during VBS. For some unknown reason - it had to have been a definite God thing - I had agreed to be the director of that department instead of just leading the music rotations as I have done in the recent past. It's been too long ago for me to remember the theme of that year's VBS - but I had a canoe in my classroom that the little ones loved to pile into, so it must have had something to do with water.
Besides having some adult helpers, we also had some youth workers. Youth workers are indespensible for helping to round up the wiggliest tykes and for taking them out to the playground for "bubbles" or the all-important energy release! On this particular day, recreation was over and it was time for the children to return to our classroom for snacks. While the youth had the children outside, my helpers and I set their tables with cups of juice and whatever our snack ladies had prepared for that day.
One by one, the children came back into the room and took their seats at the tables prepared for them. But one seat was conspicuously empty. Uh-oh, they lost one. That's a teacher's worst nightmare - for a student to go AWOL. The youth helpers ran back outside to look for the lost lamb while the rest of us supervised much-needed hand washing table-by-table. (If you've ever had a room filled with 30 four-year-olds, you understand why we had only a few at a time at the one and only sink.)
While the children were washing up, they waited semi-patiently at the tables because they knew that we would have a blessing before indulging in the tasty treats. As thirsty as they must have been, no one grabbed the juice cups. But as the children continued to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for this last straggler, Brody had reached his limit of waiting.
I'll bet you're all thinking that he grabbed his juice or snacks and chowed down. But that isn't what happened. As the adults in the room sent out another search party for the youth and missing child, Brody simply bowed his head and began to offer his own blessing and then had his snack. As quickly as Brody began to pray, the Holy Spirit filled the classroom. As we watched, one by one, the other children began to ask offer their personal blessings and began to enjoy their snacks too. As long as children were praying, it was very still and quiet in the room. When the last child finished praying, the Presence of the Lord lifted and the usual classroom noise returned - along with our MIA and Entourage.
Lots of lessons were learned that day, but the greatest lesson was that children don't need to wait on adults to pray with or for them.
Gavin, another of "my kids" was in my third grade choir. For some reason that year, the schedule had been flip flopped so that children went straight to Missions from supper and then came to Music. The girls went to GAs and sat around tables completing projects and learning about Missionaries at home and around the world. The guys went to the gym and usually ended up playing basketball. When it was time for choir, the girls would come in excitedly talking about the projects they worked on or the Missionaries they met. The boys came in boisterously and were more likely to punch or hit one another than take their seats. How was I going to settle them down for choir without physical restraints or loud voices??? (Mrs. Marsha never yells!)
God provided the answer. Directly across from our choir room, there was a small unused classroom. It was actually the size of a walk-in closet, but it had a window. Storm damage to one corner needed to be repaired so the furniture had been moved out until those repairs could be made. (It wouldn't happen that year or for the next couple of years.) So I brought an old queen-sized comforter to put on the floor and we moved in a standard Sunday School cabinet usually used to hold all of the lesson photos and helps. No one was using it at the time so it was perfect for our purposes.
The first night we used our Prayer Closet, the other adult leaders and I "herded" our wild children into the tiny room and asked them to sit on the floor. We talked about God's answers to prayer: Yes, No, and Wait. A large posterboard was pinned to one wall and crayons and pencils were provided for each child to go in turn and write a prayer request on the board. (I still chuckle at the little girl whose baby brother was just a few weeks old and had come down with some type of illness. She wrote, "Please help my baby bother." Her spelling skills needed a little help, but the sentiment was priceless!)
After each child had written a prayer request, we had a closing prayer and went across the hall for choir. We didn't get a lot of singing done that night, but unless we were able to deal with all of the behavior issues we weren't going to be singing anyway. Sometimes you have to spend a little longer getting control of a class before the real work gets done.
The next week, we reminded our children to come into the Prayer Closet first. Each child went to the board and indicated how God had answered. "Yes" answers were marked with a red cross. "No" answers were X'd out. "Wait" answers were circled so that we could continue to pray. After a couple of weeks of using the corporate posterboards, each child received his/her own Prayer Journal with blank pages inside. These were stored in the little cubby shelves - 1 journal to a shelf. Pencils and crayons were kept below in the storage cabinet. The children learned to quietly enter the room, find their journal, make their entry, put the journal away and sit on the comforter till everyone was finished. After a closing prayer, we walked across the hall for choir.
In just a couple of weeks, we no longer had to spend time on behaviors - the children came into the choir room ready to sing. And though we technically had 10 less minutes to sing than scheduled, it was more than enough time because it was all quality singing time.
Instead of having an adult to always close prayer time, we asked for volunteers. Gavin always volunteered - and sometimes he was chosen. His pattern of speech was unique even for our area of the south. I'm not sure where his Southern Drawl came from since neither his parents or brother spoke that way. He talked v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, drawing each word out as long as possible. On the nights when he was chosen to lead the prayer, he would begin, "O-u-r-F-a-t-h-e-r....." That was the longest Lord's Prayer any of us had ever heard! If any of the children interrupted Gavin, he would start over from the beginning accompanied by groans.
We knew that Gavin had head knowledge about God, but he had not asked Jesus into his heart yet. One night, there was a difference in Gavin. He came up to me and whispered (loudly), "Mrs. Marsha, did you know that God is in here?" I replied, "Yes, Gavin, I know He is waiting for us every week because He knows we're going to be in here at this time. I'm so glad you feel Him too." That night, Gavin asked to say our prayer. I saw a few eyes roll as children braced themselves for the long, drawn-out prayer. We were all surprised when Gavin simply talked to God as he talked to his friends. His prayer that night was straight from his heart, albeit still with each word stretched as far as possible.
When I got downstairs to Adult Choir Practice that night, I asked Gavin's Mom to step aside with me for a moment. I told her how precious his prayer had been and asked if he had been talking with them about making his profession of faith public. She indicated that she and his Dad thought he was ready and I told her that I agreed. That Sunday when it was time for the Invitation, Gavin didn't wait for the music to start, he simply stepped out in the aisle and began walking forward to the Pastor.
There is nothing so precious as watching the change in a child's life when Jesus takes up residence in their heart.
When the burdens of each day begin to wear you down, I hope you'll remember Brody and Gavin and go to the Father as they both did - as Little Ones.
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