The lesson that didn't go as planned


Sitting in Sharing Time at church last Sunday with five 8 year olds 
sounds easy enough, right? It wasn't. The girls sat there like angels, 
but 2 of the 3 boys were another story. One talking constantly, 
about everything and anything…often standing up to do so. The 
other boy practiced swallowing paper.

I was hoping for better once we got into our classroom for lesson 
time.

Since it was the very last Sunday of the year, the lessons in the 
manual had all been completed, so I got to make up my own. I 
decided since we just had Christmas and learned so much about 
our Savior, that I would focus on teaching them to be more Christ 
like.

Or so I thought.

My left eye felt dry and painful since I had woken up that morning. 
This is a common malady around here with our dry cold winter 
days (and having older eyes!). I tried to ignore it but by the time 
we were all walking to our classroom (after Sharing Time) I know 
I needed to do something to get rid of the distracting pain.

I didn't want to go into the bathroom and leave the kids alone, so I 
told them to just hold on for a minute,  "I need to put some eye 
drops in because my eye is hurting."

But first I thought we should at least have the opening prayer. The 
boy who offered to do that, included in his prayer, “Please bless 
Sister Shelley that her eye will feel better and it will be like a 
normal person's eye.”

So then I took my glasses off and placed them on my lap. I got the 
eye drop bottle out of my purse and told the children this would 
just take a minute. (As one of the girls saw the bottle of eye drops
her jaw dropped and she looked in shock….like I was going to do eye surgery.)

I leaned my head back, put one eye drop in and then realized I 
couldn't sit up right away or the drop would fall down my face. So 
as I was leaning back with my eyes closed I said, “Uh oh. I can't 
see. I need to just stay back like this for about a minute.” (meaning
I couldn't see from the drops clouding my vision but I didn't explain all that)


As I was in this position suddenly I could feel these little hands on 
my face and I could feel my glasses come over my ears. “Who is 
that?” I asked.

I heard this little voice right in front of my face say his name to 
me. He thought when I said I couldn't see that he would put my 
glasses back on for me. It was the sweetest thing!! I kept thinking 
about him and his simple kindness all week. He became much 
more to me than the boy who was trying to swallow paper in 
Sharing Time.

The children were all so protective over me.  And excitedly were 
giving their input. One of the little girls said, “Let's turn down 
the lights for her. The lights are probably making her eyes feel 
worse," and got up to flip the switch off.

The visiting boy even chimed in, "If you need me to do anything 
for you I will." 

Then another girl said, “What Sister Shelley really needs is some 

peace and quiet.”

One sweet quieter boy sat there looking very concerned for me. 

That tender empathy look.

So guess who taught who about being Christ like? They were 
perfect examples to me and I told them so. 

We spent the rest of the class time talking about how Christ lived 
His life to show us the way. And how already, at just 8 years old, 
they are followers of Him.  

They have been on my mind and in my heart, ever since. 
I keep thinking about those little hands on my face...


7 comments:

Scrapally said...

That is so sweet! What a wonderful experience!

Tyler Heasley said...

I was the boy talking all the time. I loved making people laugh.

Great class, great post!

Anonymous said...

great story, Jill.
darlene

Karen Mortensen said...

Such a sweet story. You and their parents have taught them well.

grandmapeg said...

Just got caught up with your last few posts. What a very nice Christmas you had! I loved seeing all of the gifts that were personalized just for you and Dennis from your kids. I loved the unplanned lesson you had in your class. Children can be great teachers by example.

Valerie said...

That is so sweet. I'm glad they showed such kindness and that you recognized it.

Lori Stoked said...

Jill thank you for sharing this with me I really appreciate it. I treasure these things because I know they are truly examples to me.

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