Become as Little Children

I just spent the last two days helping my mother in her third grade classroom. Let me repeat that. I just spent the last two days helping my mother in her third grade classroom. I have one word for you: hyper. Oh muh gawrsh, those little eight and nine year olds are so fun. But good gracious, they have more energy than I did after drinking soda for the first time in a nine months. 

It really was fun though. The first day I just helped my mom with basic needs around the classroom. You know: cutting things, glueing things, cleaning. The works. The second half of the day my mom had her Christmas party and I got to help serve food, assist with crafts and play my guitar for them while they sang songs. First of all, they thought the song thing was awesome. It was hysterical. They all got up and screamed the Christmas songs at the top of their lungs. I didn't even have to sing.

The second day was their last day before Christmas break. Yeah, they were a tad excited and hyper. And loud. Oh yes, were they loud. But I must say, it was a lot different than the day before. The entire third grade had their Christmas around the world activity. Each third grade teacher's classroom was a different "country" and the kids traveled from classroom to classroom learning about how different countries celebrate the holidays. My mom's room was Germany. And, apparently in Germany, they have a pickle ornament that the parents hide on the tree, and the first kid to find the pickle on the tree gets an extra gift from Saint Nicholas. So they got to make their own pickle ornaments, which they loved. In real life, they are usually glass ornaments. But they made their own felt and paper ones that looked like this:

Literally, they thought that the pickle thing so cool. Then we let them try gingersnaps, because gingerbread is apparently popular in Germany. And then we sang two songs (while I played guitar again) that supposedly came from Germany: Silent Night and Oh Christmas Tree. It took all day, and my mom taught the lesson five different times to each class that came to her "country."

I think the funniest part of the entire was when my cousin Zach came in to help out too. His mom (my aunt) works at the same elementary school as a librarian, and he was helping her in the library. But when he got bored, he came to my moms room. And to make things even more complicated, my little sister, Olivia, was in one of the third grade classes that my mom taught. My parents are divorced, so my mom and my little sister are not related since Olivia is from my dad's second marriage. And my cousin Zach and I are related because of my mom's second marriage. Zach and I are really close in age, so the moment he walked in, I got a million questions. 

"Is that your boyfriend?!" 

"No."

"Oh, is that you're twin?"

"No."

"Oh. Is that you're brother?"

"No. That is my cousin."

"Are you Olivia's sister?"

"Yes."

"But Mrs. Stong (a.k.a. my mom) is not her mom!"

"You're right she is not. We have different moms."

"Then how are you sisters?!"

"Because we have the same dad."

"If you and Zach are cousins, are Zach and Olivia cousins?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because we have different moms."

"Is Mrs. Murray (Zach's mom, my aunt) Olivia's aunt?"

"Nope."
"Why do you all have different last names?"
"It's a long story."

"I'm confused."

They were all sorts of confused. But they were laughing the entire time. They found it comical. I couldn't help but laugh too. I was cracking up. Because you half to admit, to a little kid, it is quite confusing. Heck, it's confusing to me as well. 

I love how humble little kids are. They find the smallest things entertaining, and find the simplest things hysterical. They aren't afraid to ask questions, or act completely silly. 

Matthew 18:3-4: And he said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Sometimes we get so caught up in the "big kid" things of our lives. We tend to thing of everything as complicated, hard, difficult, or organized. But sometimes we need to change our perspective, humble ourselves, and look at the world like little kids. Or like third graders who love singing songs, making homemade pickle ornaments, or find humor in a confusing family.