Wise Little Children

Last night as Josh read Luke 10 out loud to me, I was struck by verse 21 which says:
In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said "I thank you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise
and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for that was your gracious will."

Wow, I thought. I could have said that! How many times have I been teaching my little class or small group and been ministered to by their true and blessed insight? I have had such a precious privilege to work with sweet children in many areas at church and work, so I thought I would share some examples here.

Tonight in my small group, we were counting our offering money that we have been collecting to buy goats for an AIDS orphan (each small group has a Christmas offering goal for the AIDS orphans). I had secretly dropped in a $20 bill from my Christmas bonus, to get the kids excited, thinking I was being generous. We started to count, when in walked Logan with $43!! He is six. It was his own money! Talk about the widow's mite. . . I felt like the rich young ruler. Of course everybody was overjoyed! We are thinking we might be able to do more than just two goats. . . Might I add that if you want to check out the website I've linked above you will be surprised to see that you can sponser an orphan for $12 a month. This organization employs the most practical grass-roots methods to bringing aid to the most needy people on earth.

Then, as we prayed over our offering, thanking the Lord for its abundance, Rachel prayed "Lord, may this offering we give to the AIDS orphan be a token to him of You! May he see that You are the best gift he could have, way better than these goats." I was blessed that she had made that connection. I hadn't thought of the goats being from God, Who gives all good gifts. I had not thought of them being a symbol of His bounty and Self-Sufficiency. I was so blessed by that prayer, and the reminder it was to me that WE had not done a thing, but God has provided in all things.

Here is a precious story from last spring. I was teaching my 1st and 2nd graders the "The ABC's of God" which is great curriculum about the perfections of God. We had just learned about His righteousness (which is that anything He does is Right, because He values what is Supremely Valuable). The next week our lesson was His wrath, and the lesson called for you to set up a scene where you scarily act out Jesus in the temple, throwing over a table and lashing a whip. Then we discussed, "was that right for Jesus to do?" (Do we not, as adults, constantly call into question God's righteousness by demanding He do what we want?) "Yes!" they said "Everything Jesus does is right!" Emily asked "did He whip the animals or the people?" We relooked at the text. "It was the people" I said "Jesus whipped the people with his whip. And that was RIGHT to do, wasn't it?" "Yes," they all agreed, "the people deserved to be whipped!" Then Delani (who is a spiritually sensitive child, often thinking deep thoughts about the Lord) quietly said something I will never forget: "He can whip me if He wants to." I teared up. I was humbled. She was able to see herself in that story, the one who deserves to be whipped. That was His gracious will -- to reveal that to Delani, and then to me.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been taught by the wisdom of little children, things that the Holy Spirit has revealed to them. Post your "lessons" and share them with us!