NATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY

Today is NATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY!  I started teaching Sunday School when I was only 12 years old, about the same time I began playing piano for church.  Believe me when I tell you it’s not for wimps!  God gives us what we need, and most of the time we need a sense of humor!

I appreciate those times when you have worked all day Friday, come home to fix supper for your family, get your Sunday School packet out and begin to organize the lesson in your mind – and put together all the fun games included in the lesson packet.  Hey, we do laundry and cook-ahead on Saturday, so the lesson plan has to be done on Friday night.

I appreciate the moments when you realize that there’s no way you’re going to teach this lesson on a level that is going to be understood by your kids.  Sometimes you literally have to take the words used in the lesson book and re-write them.  It’s a definite waste of time for you, but the kids will benefit from it  because at least they will get something out of it.

I appreciate the days when you smile even though you walk into your Sunday School class and Tommy has already spit gum into Suzie’s pretty brown hair.  See what I mean about praying for a sense of humor?  You handle this rather sticky situation with grace and finesse – you send Suzie to her mom and set Tommy in the corner for a time out.  Yep – all better now.  Of course, the first bell has now rung and you haven’t gotten around to doing any teaching, but hey…  stuff happens.

I appreciate the dedication you have for your kids.  They are a charge given to you.  When you walk in ready to evangelize to them and let them know they are loved not only by their Savior, Jesus Christ, but by you as well, it’s a very good and productive day.  Well done!

I appreciate the time you take to teach children.  In our church we had a lot of bus kids – kids whose parents didn’t think it was important to bring their kids to church, but they could ride our bus.  One little girl will be in my mind forever – Virginia.  For some reason, Virginia decided I was her favorite person on the planet.  She never wanted to go to Children’s Church after Sunday School.  She wanted to go into BIG CHURCH with me.  I think she would have come home with me if she could get away with it.  I’ll tell you a little secret – I would have let her!  That little girl is not so little anymore.  She’s probably a mother herself now.  I pray for her every day.  I pray that the words she heard in Sunday School (and in BIG CHURCH) stayed with her and that somewhere along the way, she accepted Jesus into her heart and life.  ❤