When I stopped selling Pampered Chef, I started teaching the religion classes. The kids were old enough to go so I figured if I had to take them, I wanted to be there. I missed teaching the classes and was ready to dive back in and pull myself closer to God.
I missed the searching for material and coming up with ideas to help the kids understand God and what He expected. I know the ideas were God-given and in all His glory, He provided! Kind of like when I wrote my poems, I prayed asking Him to guide me and He always delivered!
At Halloween one year, I found myself quite blessed with our family growing pumpkins and they donated many for one of my projects. Our lives build up with sin and junk. Our hearts get mushy with worldly living and tend to leave God out of our thoughts.
I had the kids outside carving the pumpkins and as we cut the stem out, we released the worldly pressure building. The seeds and slime inside were removed. The pumpkin is empty and void; needing to be filled with God’s love. We think of Godly things and it fills. He puts a smile on our faces and therefore the smiles were carved. Inside, now His, and our, lights shine as the candle glows. Kids can understand the concept of being forgiven as they get rid of sin.
Doing for others was a must! I held a special part in my heart for the elderly in our neighborhood. I made it a point one day to stop and help one do something and my own kids joined in of course. Then, the idea of taking my class on adventures was born. We spent some days helping the elders clean their house or yard and a couple times they just wanted to talk or play cards. I held card days with themes like Hawaiian Days and The 50’s. Those were such treasured moments!
They would come dressed in style and have such an awesome time mingling with the kids. It was a great opportunity for the kids to learn about how important the elderly are and likewise for the elderly to see the future generations unfolding.
One month we concentrated on Ephesians 6:10-18 – The armor of God. I had a church member donate some cardboard and each student was responsible for making the whole armor outfit even the shoes! We used duct tape to keep the outfits together and the silver was a plus to the proper material in armor days. I wonder today if any kept those outfits. They turned out fabulous and all wore them in front of the congregation and told the story of the Armor of God.
These were things that fired my heart to want more for these kids and others. I saw so many just living day to day and hearing some say, “I couldn’t wait for that sermon to end.” Some would come in and leave right after communion and others skip all together. This new generation was in my hands as I taught them.
Our kids began school and I knew my mission was bigger than I thought. I had to dive back in to God’s Word. I happen to mention one day to a relative about what the Bible said about something and their response was, “ Well, that’s not the Catholic Bible you are reading. It has to be the Catholic Bible only because everyone else’s was changed.”
Oh I so had a new mission! If you recall in one of my previous Stories, I contacted another Catholic member who suggested the Life Application Bible. I read quite a bit of it, but decided to get a Catholic Bible. I had one from our wedding, but for some reason I didn’t want to mark it up.
I needed one I could write in! So I asked the nun at our church which one to get and bought one. My resolution that New Year was to get up 15 minutes earlier than I woke the kids for school and read. Some days I had to pick it up after they left! I finished in October that year. I tore that Bible from front to back! It was so worn out by the time I finished that it was unbinding. I highlighted front to back and wrote notes on many things questionable to what I knew. I needed to find out more!
