Can you see Jesus in this space?
Yesterday, I subbed in a gifted classroom. My first two classes of the day were fourth graders. Their task for the first fifteen minutes of class was to make a drawing of their own using these squiggly lines. They could draw anything they liked, but they were supposed to include lots of details and give it a title. They could add color if time permitted and when they were finished, we would go around the classroom and share their creation.
Most of them dove into the little art project. I ended up with lots of cloud themes, including dragons, rainbows and unicorns. It was fourth grade, no surprise there.
Then one little girl turned her paper upside down and created an angel.
Angels in the Bible, often had messages that turned everything upside down.
I marveled at her creativity and was reminded that I had just written a post about how angels in the Bible, often appeared with messages that turned life upside down.
I continued to go around the room and had everyone share. They were all different. Each child saw something different in the squiggly lines. Then I came to this one.
She apologized for not finishing with her coloring before her time ran out.
I was so surprised. When I asked her to share with the class how she came up with her idea, see said matter-of-factly, that the squiggly lines looked like a cloud and Jesus was coming back on a cloud. There’s nothing like the faith of children.
We finished sharing everyone’s drawings and moved on to our next task, but I marveled at the little girl’s picture and how she saw Jesus in those squiggly lines.
The next class arrived and I gave them the same instructions. They too, all drew something different, most of them having something to do with clouds, but my last table group, surprised me again.
One little boy said that the squiggly lines reminded him of sheep and the shepherds who went to see the baby Jesus.
One little boy said the lines reminded him of sheep.
Two of the other children a the table came up with something entirely different, but the last child to share, once again, had me close to speechless.
One little boy created a church.
He created a scene of a church that made me think of Heaven, complete with a cross and a Bible. He named it the, “Stairway to Church.”
These two classes were at the very beginning of my day and each drawing activity only took around fifteen minutes, but they had a lasting impact on me.
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3
I prayed on my way to school, that God would show me His face and give me enough wisdom to see it. He sent me children who looked at squiggly lines and saw an angel, shepherds, church and how it helps us ascend towards Heaven, and the promise of Christ’s return.
Oh yes, He’s everywhere. Look at the lines. What do you see?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂