Sunday, at church, I had the grand privilege of being a guest in a small group class of 6th grade girls. YAY ME! There were about 8 of them, and I tell you, I quickly learned a few things about 11 and 12 year old girls. Possibly, the most important thing I learned is that 6th grade girls are like individual cans of steroid infused Red Bull. EN-ER-GY times ten!! Oh my!
They chit chat non-stop, and each one has something majorly important to say. It’s SO important that if she doesn’t say it at the very moment it comes to mind – no matter which one of her peers may be speaking at the time and regardless of what the prevailing topic of the moment is – the earth will sharply tilt on its axis and we will all abruptly fall off into oblivion. LOL! I’m laughing, but yes, it’s THAT important!
The group continued its discussion, from the previous week, on the true meaning of Christmas. The Shepherds took center stage in Sunday’s chat, with the spotlight shining on their supporting role (Luke 2:8-18) in the story of the birth of Christ. Oh, I wish you could have seen how excited these girls were. The room absolutely erupted with volunteers wishing to add their insight to the conversation. As I sat warming my little corner of carpet real estate, I felt so delighted and honored to be in their presence.
Then, just when I thought my heart couldn’t leap for any more joy, this sweet young lady nestled in a corner inserts her hand into the air. After the group leader gives her permission to speak, she preps the group by admitting that her input is “a little off the subject”. They’re 11 year olds, so “off the subject” is actually on the subject in their beautiful world. What was even more beautiful was what this precious child wanted to share.
The young lady (whose name escapes me, unfortunately) shared with her group of bubbly, giggly, girly peers the story of two verses of scripture her father read to her earlier in the week. To me, it was obvious the Holy Spirit had challenged her to share the verses, because she had her bible open to them as if she had been pining away for just the right moment. In her soft, yet courageous voice she read these words:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38, 39
Good stuff, huh? Yeah, I thought so, too. I was blown away by how much these verses obviously touched this young child. When asked if the verses “spoke to her”, she quickly responded “yes”, and I’m sure they did. What a potent promise of God to lasso and lay claim to so early in life. It’s a promise that I know sometimes we grown folks tend to forget. I just can’t tell you how thankful I was to be in that room, at that moment, to be reminded of that promise.
It’s amazing how the promises of God seem to sound so much sweeter flowing out of the mouths of babes.
Until next time…
Wise, Virtuous, Valuable,
Beautiful indeed Monica. Sounds the Word of God is sprouting in the hearts and minds of those young girls.
It sure does. It’s such a sweet sight to witness.
[…] sitting in on small groups with the middle school girlies at church. If you read my last post, “Out of the Mouths of Babes” you remember they were discussing, a couple of weeks ago, the shepherds role in the account of the […]