God made me and loves me

By Jami Spaulding

Daddiz, Milandra, Madison, and Grace have fun dressing up and reading books.(Picture above)

I was so encouraged this week to hear the younger kids talking with the older kids as they waited for their rides to come. Sometimes you wonder if they are really understanding the things we talk to them about, or even if it's making a difference in their world. I heard them saying things like, "We're talking about schema, it's what you know," and "Our schema is getting bigger and bigger. We're really smart." It's exciting to see them begin to apply what they are learning and to embrace the potential God created them with.

On Friday, we finished up our mental image week. We ended with a lesson on God's mental image. We read from Psalm 139 and then a poem by Jack Pretulsky. The kids were a bit restless as the Psalm has a lot of vocabulary in it, but as we started to talk about each word and what it meant the kids started getting into it. Daddiz blurted out, "God's mental image of us is good!" It was like he finally understood that God made him on purpose and is crazy about him. The kids used that comment to have a discussion about how they know God loves them. We then looked at the illustrations in the poem and talked about how God made them each different and unique. As we did the art project afterwards, it was fun to hear them saying things like,"God made me responsible, he made me caring, he made me creative...." When we came together to share our projects the kids made the connection that God made them and loves them. Milandra said, "We should add that to our schema and then when people are mean to us we don't have to get mad becasuse we know what God thinks about us is true." Mickela said, "We cause our schema and remember God's mental image of us and then we'll remember to act like him, like be kind and respectful to everyone." Madison talked a long time about how God made her special and how He will help her reach her dreams.

It was exciting for me to hear my students using the language of reading and to apply it to God and their everyday lives. How I pray it will take root in their hearts and help them to love Jesus and choose His truth over everything else in their lives.