Kindergarten Theology

Yesterday I had the privilege of helping my mom in her Kindergarten Sunday school class at her church. My mom has taught that class as long as I can remember, longer than I have been living on this Earth. I always enjoy going back to the church I grew up in, there is always a familiar face that smiles and welcomes me back and then there are the occasional few that give me a hard time for being gone for so long. As I sat there with those children and helped them make their rainbow plates and bird feeders it took me back to when I was five years old and how exciting it was to sit in those little wooden chairs and do different crafts, color different pictures and learn about the many wondrous stories of God.

Yesterday the lesson was about Noah's Ark. Whenever I think about God fulfilling His promises I think of Noah's Ark. Have you ever thought about how hard that must have been for Noah? God tells him to build this ark in the middle of a desert and I can't help but think what kind of 'ark' God is calling us to build in the middle of our own personal deserts. I think about the times that God has called me build an ark and I've gotten impatient or tried to do it by my own specifications. As my mom told this story I sat there and soaked it all in. I thought about how much I want to be like my mom when I 'grow up' and how the lives of these kids are being shaped by her commitment to making Sunday mornings the best they can be. They may not always do the activities exactly how they are planned but one thing is for sure and that is they are learning about God and having fun doing it. During the lesson my mom turned on a CD that had the sound of rain on it. She told the kids to sit with their eyes closed and to think about what it must have felt like to be Noah and to have listened to God and to be a witness to the carrying through of God's promise to protect them. As I sat there I couldn't help but close my eyes and join in and I got a glimpse of how sweet that must have been for Noah. He had worked hard and built the ark that God had commanded him to. When the rain started to fall, how sweet to know that his hard work had paid off. I thought about when in life we persevere and do what is right even when it is hard and when the rain of God's blessings start to fall upon our lives that is the sweetest moment we could ever experience. I wish that I had the faith that allowed me to experience that high more often but the world bogs us down and distracts us. While I was sitting there with three children listening to the rain fall Psalm 119:50 came to mind. It has recently became a favorite of mine because there is such hope in the words of the verse. "This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life." How great is it that amongst all the things in this world we can derive comfort through everything based on the many promises of God. Today, soak in the rain of God's blessings and if you're in the middle of building your 'ark' don't lose heart because the rains will soon be coming.