In Matthew 18:3 Christ say, "And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
The Bible says we need to become like little children? Wait, that can't be right. Has God seen the children in this world? Does He know how loud they are, how they fight with each other, how they yell and scream, how they don't like to listen to their teachers? Does God see those children?
My experience as a teacher has shown me many things about the actions and mindset of a child. Maybe I should be specific. I am drawing form my experience in Honduras teaching this year. At first glance I see many things in my students that don't sound like things that Christ would want us to be doing. For example, I see my students being disrespectful to other kids, their teachers, and to their parents. I also see them being selfish. They don't want to share their colors, paper, or scissors. I see them lying to me and to their friends. They make up stories to get others in trouble or they leave parts of their stories out to prevent them from getting in trouble. In a classroom setting they would rather play then learn. I could go on but I think I've made my point. These actions can't be what Christ is talking about.
When we take a closer look into the motivation and lives of these kids we see something else. I have been in Honduras for over 8 months. I've been teaching almost every day of that time. My interactions with my students is extensive. Looking under the surface, or looking past the problems of a classroom that grate on my nerves, I see something worth digging into. It might be easier to explain with a story. As I tell this story I want you to keep in mind the things mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Last week I brought a "surprise" to school as an incentive for the students to get their work done. The word "surprise" invokes excitement and energy in a classroom of second graders. You might think that this word would be enough to settle them down and make them behave but, sadly, no. It still takes reminders, yelling, writing names on the board, and even threatening to take away their surprise. There are always a few that do behave and listen up and they are the reason that I go through the chaos of teaching. The time came to pass out the long awaited gift. I pulled the first handful out of my backpack and the class went into a tizzy of excitement. The knew they were all getting Play-Doh. I insisted that everyone be sitting. "Only the students sitting quietly can get their Play-Doh," I said. Sadly, this only works half the time. There are always a handful of students who get out of their seats. Finally, every student was seated with a Play-Doh container in hand. No one said thank you out of a class of 23 students.
I started to explain the activity to the class but the decible level was so high no one could hear me! I started yelling. In my mind I thought, "Why can't these kids be quiet? I just gave them a gift they should be thankful and listen to me." My yelling increased in volume and I threatened to take the Play-Doh away from any student who wasn't sitting quietly. This worked. I felt guilty for scaring my students into submission. Here is the most important part of the story.
The bell rang and I packed up my stuff and started walking out the door. Three students ran to me before I was out of sight and said "Thank you Miss Sarah for the Play-Doh. This is the best surprise." My heart was touched and all anger and frustration was melted away. Even after I had yelled at them they forgot about it all. They just wanted to let me know they really liked their gift.
Now, how can we relate this to the verse in Matthew 18? It is quite simple really. God wants us to be like little children. Not the children who are bad, selfish, and don't listen but the children who only see the good in people and situations. The innocence of a child is something to be treasured. Every once in a while my students surprise me with things that make teaching worth it. They give notes, hugs that last forever, sing songs, want to sit on my lap, tell me I'm beautiful when I feel like I look awful, and draw me pictures where I am a princess. Christ was talking about these children. We have to be willing to look for the good, to forgive others so we can get back to "playing", to help people with no ulterior motives, and to leave "school" with a smile on our faces no matter how many tears were shed that day. In this respect we should all be as little children.
I have also learned something about Christ from being a teacher. No matter how much a student(s) is bothering me I always show them love. I show them all grace even though they don't deserve it. Even the students I don't "like" get hugs when they cry and words of encouragement. If I can do this for a child here how much more does God do for me? His love is 100 times greater, His grace is insurpassable, and the feelings of comfort He gives through the good and bad times are priceless.
This year has not been what I was expecting by any stretch of the imagination. Even through all the rough times and trials God has still taught me something. No matter how old I get and no matter what comes my way I need to remember to take on the positive traits of a child. I pray that God helps me do that everyday and you as well.
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