February 19, 2016

Children Belong to Jesus

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” -- Matthew 19:14

Our church has a wonderful after school program for elementary aged kids. They gather once each week for a snack, recreation, music and Bible time. I had the opportunity to lead an art project one day. It was so much fun!

Kids are great! They are honest and daring, loud and full of personality. Even the ones who are a bit shy and afraid to make a mistake have interesting personalities that blossom when they know you care. I am so thankful for the people who welcome me into the lives of their children.

We did a prayer journaling exercise to help them express themselves and to remember just who God is. We remembered that we’re supposed to pray without ceasing and that God always hears our prayers, even the ones we only say deep in our hearts.

Some of the kids were amazed that God knows when we say what we’re supposed to say out loud and then say something totally different in our mind. He hears that voice inside of us loud and clear. No getting away with it when it comes to God.

It’s important to remember that God loves us, that God is everywhere, that God protects us, and that God cares when we are hurting. We can tell God anything. We can even tattle on others to God. Some of the children were really surprised about that. They’d obviously been told that tattling is wrong and didn’t realize we really can tell God anything.

We can also go to God when we mess up and ask Him to forgive us. When we ask from our hearts, He is quick to forgive. We all mess up and we all need to go to God and ask for forgiveness when we do.

And we can ask God to help us do the right thing. The kids have spent some time learning about self-control, especially when it comes to not saying things that are ugly or hurtful. We can count on God to help us with that.

The kids got to paste or draw something that represented everything we talked about. Then they put their names on their art project and took it home, hopefully to remember all the ways we can pray to God. It’s a lesson for all of us.