Such simple lessons, and yet, they were so profound.
Perhaps, it is not only because I love to teach and love children that I enjoy Sunday School at the children's church so much, but because of how much I learn there as well. So often I find myself marvelling at the simple lessons of life taught to the children, lessons that I madly wished I had known, if only I had believed in God from the beginning.
On Sunday, during a combined teaching session, Pastor S told a story of Lolly, a little girl who was told by the world that she had to be this-and-that to be beautiful and accepted. The deceitful rabbit, wiley orange fox and wicked witch made her believe she needed to exchange her beautiful basket of sunflowers and lollipops for rabbit shoes, an orange coat and a tight belt in order to be beautiful and accepted into the royal kingdom.
It was at this point that Zenon turned around, gave me his cheeky grin then whispered seriously to me, "Jiejie (big sister) Wai Jia, I know this story. It's going to rain soon! Lolly's rabbit shoes become muddy, her coat shrinks in the rainwater and her belt loses its shine!"
"Oh really?"
" YES. REALLY!"
Pastor S continued, "Children, do you know that you are all beautiful and precious in God's eyes? You don't need to believe other people if they make you feel lesser. You don't need other people to tell you what kind of clothes you need to wear, how you ought to be- because you are beautiful and precious to God as you are."
What a beautiful lesson. I looked at little Darrell and said, "God loves you just as you are, okay?"
Lolly's story reminded me of how important it is to recognise where we place our sense of security. Do we place it on our looks, our talents, our abilities or in... God?
It made me think. For years I placed it in my work. When I was ill, it was because I put it in my appearance. Triathlon was a way for me to regain my health and to kickstart healthy eating habits again. This season, God has, out of love, chosen to take even that, the strength to train for triathlons, away from me. Now, in my peace and joy in simply resting, in simply being, I can safely say that I've found where my security lies. I am relieved to realise, I don't need my training to feel adequate or to get by. Perhaps at one point I did, but I've graduated from that school of thinking and moved on to a better, more secure place.
Sunday School has taught me, that if I really love my kids and want to teach them well, I too, have to inculcate and apply the lessons learnt at Sunday School in my life. Because of you, I want to love myself more, too.
On Sunday, I taught you all the lesson of Thinking Before We Speak. That's little Darrell being my volunteer, taking a tube of toothpaste from me so he could help me squeeze the paste out onto a piece of paper.
"Darrell, can you try to put the toothpaste back into the tube?"
He tried.
"Yar," he replied with all earnestness.
There was a huge mess left behind on the piece of paper.
Lesson: Our words are like toothpaste. The words we speak can be hard to take back. When we try to, just as how we tried to put the paste back into the tube, we usually end up...
"MAKING A MESS!"
"NASTY MESS!"
"DIRTY NASTY MESSY MESS!"
The children squealed with enthusiasm.
Indeed. Why do I find myself learning more from you at Sunday School than from what I teach.
Reflecting upon the entire series of Conflict Resolution lessons I had to teach you, you made me see how much unforgiveness I had, how I needed to let go, and how I ought to manage people situations better. Why am I not as much of a people-person as I would like to be?
Just keep it between you and me as a secret. But I'm in Sunday School because you teach me so much, too. I genuinely want to listen whenever you say, "Jiejie Wai Jia, I have something to tell you", even if it's about the BIG RED BUS!! you saw this week, or the NEW SHIRT MUMMY BOUGHT ME YESTERDAY!!
And I love it when you come up to me just to ask, "Jiejie Wai Jia, are you teaching today?"
Think before you Speak
"Reckless words pierce like a sword."
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