After worship on Sunday, one of our fourth graders presented me with a piece of paper from his worship bag. He had drawn a line down the middle to create two columns. At the top of the left-hand column was the word “Needs.” The right-hand column was titled “Wants.”
Had I looked at him during the sermon on the parable of “Lazarus and the rich man,” I might have concluded he was not paying attention while he concentrated on the paper in front of him.
“Needs: Food, Clothes, House, Family, Warmth, Life, God, Jesus, Joy, Laughter, Happiness, Love, Grateful.”(This is a wonderfully perceptive list of physical, emotional and spiritual needs.)
“Wants: Phone, TV, Nintendo, Gameboy, Fish, Dog, Cat, Toys, Computer, Boat.” (Note the electronics and pets!)
Hmmm. A fourth grade boy used the materials in the children’s worship bags to apply the sermon to his own life. We think they’re not listening. They are.
Photo by Marjon Kruik, Creative Commons
This material is Copyrighted © 2010 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeff.rogers@firstbaptistgreenville.com.
4 comments:
They are always listening. Though fidgeting, crying, or kicking their legs, they absorb all we say and all we are. God help us. . .really help us love and look into the eyes of the ones he says we need to be like if we want to come to him.
Melody
Thanks for the post. It is amazing what children pick up when we don't think the are hearing anything. That must be why we are instructed to be discipling them all the time throught the day.( I have heard that they actually listen better when they are drawing...not sure if this is true.)
Melody--Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment! Children's propensity for "absorbtion" is a wonderful way to put it. I've never thought of that in relation to Jesus' admonition--but I will now! Thanks!
Doug--Thanks for dropping in from the Great Northwest! Yes, it's scary to think that we are discipling them all the time, even when we aren't congizant of it.
There was a small study (about 40 participants) published about 18 mos. ago that suggested a correlation between remembering and doodling. But so far as I know the experiment hasn't been corroborated, and it was "doodling" not "drawing" as some commentators on it have pointed out. So the jury's out on the matter. Still, I am satisfied that there is something to be said for multi-sensory engagement of children, so I am quite happy when they are drawing while I'm preaching. (And it's certainly less distracting to others than their dancing in the aisle or crawling under the pews, with both of which I've experienced also!)
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