Learning from our mistakes....

Well, one interesting thing about working with children is that you just never know what to expect each day.  Today we had an "adventure" when a 3 year old boy decided it would be fun to put a chunk of ice melting salt up his nose!  At first we thought it was a "rock" since that is what he called it!  It was a kind of frantic 45 minutes till we managed to get the boy to blow the chunk out of nose.  The crazy thing is that less than an hour later, I caught that same boy trying to stick a toy up his nose!  Apparently he did not learn a lesson from this event. 

Okay, this got me to thinking about the times that I don't seem to learn anything from some unfortunate experience that I have brought on myself.  Can't we all think of something like this that we have done?  I am so thankful that we get second chances and even third, forth or more chances.  These "do-overs" are such a blessing.  Unfortunately, my list of dumb things is pretty long.  As a matter of fact, there are a couple contained in this blog!  Thankfully, I have done a bit better than that little boy and actually learned some lessons from these poor choices - SOME OF THE TIME.  But there are still times that I feel like I keep making the same mistakes over and over.   I love that the Bible contains story after story of people who brought misery onto themselves by their own actions.  And then God intervened and gave them another chance. And the best news is that God also gives them a pretty clear look at exactly what they have done.  

I don't know if you are familiar with "VeggieTales".  They are an amazing video series for children that use vegetables to tell Bible stories and Biblical truth.  I am thinking of a favorite of mine that is actually the story of David and Bathsheba.  It is called King George and the Ducky.

This is a great retelling of a touchy Biblical story that seems to have "adult content".  They did a fantastic job of telling about the situation in a totally different way.  The reason I was thinking about this movie is the scene where the "prophet" goes to King George to explain his mistake to him.  I LOVE THIS SCENE!   He uses a flannel graph!  There are time I would love to have someone bring out the flannel graph to explain my mistakes! And I confess that there are times that I wish that someone would use a flannel graph for someone else!  

 

I love the things that I learn and/or remember after a day working with children.  Isn't it amazing the things that Jesus will use to reach us?  I'll be paying much more attention to my mistakes.  And I will be praying that those 3 year olds make better choices to keep foreign objects out of bodily cavities!

 

Jesus, thank you for the reminder tonight of second and third and more chances.  You are an amazing God that cares for us and teaches us with love and mercy and grace.  Holy Spirit, thank you for those flannel graph reminders.  Keep us sensitive and open to your correction.   Bless the kids I work with and give me and all the teachers, wisdom grace and peace as we care for and educate these little ones.  Amen