I was asked again about the possibility of my involvement in children’s ministry, and again I felt the tug on my heart that was followed by a reminder of the busyness that already surrounds me. I love working with children! I love their vitality, their sincerity, their warmth, and their hugs. I love being able to simplify biblical truth that they not only grab onto, but they are quick to make it a part of their thinking and their young lives. Faith comes so easily to our little ones! And they delight in repetition and body movement and songs and in being wide-eyed listeners! There is a realization too that each young life is only a beginning that is saturated with a potential that God wants to unfold. What ministry holds a greater reward than the knowledge that I can impact the intent of God’s design for a whole lifetime???

 

A child is so aware of the adults in her life. (Sometimes we forget that.) They look to us for love, for approval, and for that living example of what life and God and faith are all about. They look to us too for the provision of their basic physical needs, but even a child raised in poverty can be rich with the blessings that come from loving adult involvement, teaching, and example.

 

The heart of my present ministry outreach is with adult women, but I have never felt that I "stepped up" when I had to say good-bye to the many years I spent in preschool and early elementary classrooms, Sunday Schools, Vacation Bible Schools, and Good News Clubs. Even the years I spent with junior highers were rewarding with their openness and their questions. And with junior highers, you can actually turn around and find one walking in the footsteps you have left behind! Communicating truth to our younger ones takes a commitment to fully understand it for ourselves in both its essence and its application. It takes a submission to God that allows our lives and our love to uphold the words that we say. It takes an ability to create bite-sized and relevant nuggets of truth in a language and an environment that will engage the heart of the child.

 

Although I am no longer able to be in a structured setting of teaching children, I am so thankful for the opportunities I do have to touch young lives. They tire me more quickly as age creeps up on me, but they refresh my spirit in incredible ways.

 

My little grandniece came home from kindergarten and declared to her mom that her teacher teaches her about everything! She proceeded to list the "everything" – stars and moon, and animals, and daytime and nighttime, and God! Whoa! She’s in a public school classroom. Where did God come from? Arianna has been taught by her mom, her Awana leaders, her Sunday School teachers, and from just play experiences in my home as well, that God is very much a part of sun, moon, animals, daytime, and nighttime – He made them! Her natural assumption was that her kindergarten teacher was surely teaching her about Him as well! It was an encouragement to me and the others who influence her spiritually, to faithfully continue that influence. And I would greatly encourage you in your own world of little people to give to those children all that you possibly can, knowing the richness of rewards that will be both yours and theirs.