Teach them diligently!

One of my favorites part of each day is my time with the children at 78. Each night we read a Bible story, sing songs and pray before bed. The past nights have been so exciting! The children always have stories to tell me about their day. Last week, as I read one of our Bible stories, I sought to summarize the story by saying that God wants for us to obey and serve him. One of the little boys, age 6, asked, "how do I serve God?" Wow! I was blown away by this profound question. I went on to explain that we can serve God by obeying Him and those who watch over us, we can also serve the Lord by being kind to others, and most importantly we can serve God by telling others about Jesus. This was such a neat opportunity and I was glad to know that the Lord is working on their little hearts.

Last night, we were reading the story of Nicodemus. The children had a hard time pronouncing his name and this was quite amusing. So, as you know in the story, Nicodemus asked Jesus, how must he be born again? (John 3: 1-14) We talked about what it meant to be born again and one of the little girls, age 8, says to me, I want to be born again. I shared that to be born again, she has to ask Jesus to come and live in her heart. A few minutes later, we started our usual prayer time, when it was her turn to pray she asked Jesus to come and live in her heart and make her a new person. Wow! This was so amazing! Once again, I was reminded that God is at work in their hearts. They love stories, their minds are so fresh and they are so eager to learn. I am so thankful that I get to observe tangibly what a childlike faith is. As I seek to teach them, I am being taught by them as well. Their eagerness to listen and learn as well as their humility makes me want to have a childlike faith. Children are such a precious gift from God! They really are! Hmmm?!?