A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
Several years ago, I co-taught a Sunday school class for two- and three-year-old children. The lead teacher, we’ll just call her Helen, had lots of experience and many activities up her sleeve from years of working with children, including homeschooling her own.
One Sunday when it was Helen’s turn to teach the lesson, she taught all of us the above verse complete with hand motions. The children loved whispering “A gentle answer” with their hands cupped around their mouths, they thoroughly enjoyed screwing up their faces and spitting out “a harsh word,” and they wildly stirred for “stirs up.” As for me, even though I had read the verse before, it was as though I was hearing it for the first time.
This brings me to several life lessons I learned from this experience.
- Volunteer to teach. You will learn at least as much from your students as they learn from you.
- Pay attention to children. Sometimes they speak the unadulterated truth, rather than the edited truth that we learn to speak as adults.
- Be brave enough to learn hand motions to Scripture or Scripture put to music. It will help you commit it to memory, the same as it helps children to do so.
- Pay attention to the Old Testament, just as you pay attention to the New Testament. Both contain truths that are crucial to our development as mature Christians.
- Protect your quiet time with the Lord. Just as He spoke to the writers of Scripture, He will speak to you through Scripture. The catch is that we have to be still and know that He is God. When we allow the world to fill our senses, we cannot hear the important messages that He has for us. So turn off the television, put down the cell phone and yes, even step away from the computer and listen for His voice. He will honor your obedience.
Teaching can be a great source of learning! So the next time they ask for volunteers to teach at your church, step up. The children will benefit and so will you.
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