The cookbook from my Southern Elementary School class. Photo credit: Rebecca Fleming
Do you remember your kindergarten teacher? I never attended kindergarten, but I taught kindergarten. I loved my students dearly. They were fun. They were trusting. They were adventurous.
I could have walked in the door and told my class we were going to climb on the roof and learn to fly and I think they would have cheered and followed me. They trusted me. They believed in me; therefore, they followed me. As a result, our year together was filled with fun and adventure.
As adults, we tend to lose the sense of wonder and adventure. We don’t look at situations and see opportunities; we see problems. Instead of thinking how much fun something is going to be to figure out, we worry about how much time and money it will cost us. We’ve lost our sense of wonder an awe.
Read Matthew 18:1-6,
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
We have lost our childlike faith and it has prevented us from going on some of the greatest adventures of our lives. Where a child sees a green light, we, as adults, see red or yellow at the very least.
Graham Cooke said,
Children believe in things no matter what happens. Adults, however, spend their time tearing down anything that’s too good to believe.”
Take the issue of human trafficking, which has been called modern day slavery. It has been said there are more slaves in the world today than any other time in history. This problem is massive and growing bigger every day. Some say the issue could be eradicated in our lifetime. Others say that’s a joke, the problem is too big and we’ll always have this issue to deal with no matter how hard we work. Really?
I believe those who are in the fight believe victory is possible and those who have refused to step in believe we are all wasting our time, no matter what we do it will still exist. Otherwise, if you believed victory was possible then why wouldn’t you be in the fight? Who would know they could end this horrific evil and not try?
Granted, the circumstances paint a very bleak picture. After all, what can one person do? Or even 10 people? Or a hundred, right? Well, when you factor God into the equation, the answer is a lot.
Luke 1:37 needs to be tattooed on our foreheads so we read it every day.
For nothing is impossible with God.”
What part of nothing do we fail to understand? There is no but that can follow that statement, no argument that can hold water.
If God is involved in the situation, it shifts from impossible to possible, just because He’s present.
What are you facing in your life that seems impossible? What has you overwhelmed? Invite God into your situation. It’s a game changer.
I love this topic and this post for so many reasons. First of all, I believe that God delights in showing up and showing off. He wants to do big things in every life, so why not ours? At what point do we stop believing that we can be used for a more beautiful purpose? And at what point do we start using our environment and our blessings and our age as reasons why we cannot pursue that big purpose? It’s too easy to use our jobs, our schools, and our families as distractions and barriers, when they are really meant as avenues in which to explore and share God.
It makes me think of a certain Little I nanny who actually popped up on my Timehop app today. At this point a year or so ago as I was probably making breakfast, the then 3 year old Molly woke herself up and surprised me on the stairs. “Can I tell you about my bracelet?!” I assumed she got a bracelet from the Easter bunny, but she surprised me with a simple string and colored beads meant to represent Jesus’ life and our salvation. As I silently reminisced about my own salvation bracelets back in the day, she began to tell me about the beads she had already begun to memorize, “red is for God’s blood….white means FORGIVEN.” She was so boldly sharing the gospel with me, and I was overwhelmed at the magnitude of the moment. God was doing something GLORIOUS. We spent the rest of the morning memorizing the colors and relishing the teaching moment He made for both of us.
Black- Our sin (man-made “bad things”)
Red- Christ’s blood which He shed and shared so gracefully
Green- Growth (in our relationship with our Father, and realizing that we need Him)
White- Forgiveness and Salvation. Even though we will continue to sin, this is us looking at Him and saying, “I don’t want to sin, I don’t want to be separated from You. You lived, died, and rose again, and YOU are what and who I need.”
Blue: Baptism. Sharing our faith with others, because we want to declare our love and His work in our lives.
After she memorized all of the beads she (with all of the enthusiasm of an extremely energetic three year old) asked me if she could share Jesus with her teacher.
WHOA. Not what I expected, but so much more than I could have hoped for. That little one marched straight into her classroom and shared the gospel with her pre-k teacher. I was and am still captivated by that moment.
So all of this reminds me of what you told me the other day. I’m paraphrasing here, but “God gave just as much of Himself to a child as He did to us. He doesn’t give bits and pieces. WE are the ones that have to decide how much of ourselves we will give back and open to Him.” That truth blows me away.
If a three year old can love so much and share the gospel so fluidly, so can we.
Let’s forget about our Jesus filters, He didn’t put them there, we did. (;
Girl, I think you are well on your way to having a blog of your own. Well said, Kristin.
Thank you! That’s very nice of you to say!
I will never ever forget that story. The memory is sealed (:
Thanks for sharing this post and you too Kristin! An eye opener for sure. It moves my heart!
Yay! I’m so glad! (: