Acceptance

Today in Sunday School, one of our girls had to have a catheter. I'm not sure the details of her condition, but she was carrying around her purse with the catheter bag in it, and there was an obvious tube coming out of her dress and into the purse.

I teach 4th & 5th graders so I was bracing myself for dealing with some teasing. But not ONE of the kids in my group said anything mean. No one treated her differently. No one avoided being near her. You'd never know by watching the interactions that there was anything unusual about this girl.

It was challenging for me. I tend to tease other people a lot, and while I would avoid teasing on a sensitive subject like a catheter, I wouldn't have expected 4th & 5th graders to have the same discretion. Their example showed me just how easy it can be to love and accept anyone.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Today in Sunday School we explored the Bible passage where Jesus heals the paralyzed man whose friends lower him through the roof.

One of the activities we did was have kids form groups of four or five and choose one child to be the paralyzed person. Everyone else would carry that person around the room.

In several of the groups, more than one kid was very excited about being the paralyzed person. But what impressed me was, I didn't have to do any mediation. I watched as they thought of ways to resolve it, such as using Rock, Paper, Scissors.

I beamed with pride as these kids settled their conflicts easily, in ways everyone could accept. If only all disputes could be settled so easily!