Where Did This Come From?

                                                           
                                                     Where did this come from?


I wish I could hear your thoughts right now.  Some of you know we have a young son and you may be thinking he made it.  Maybe one of our daughters made it when they were little. Some of you know I worked in an Elementary School on a grant project and it could be one of my student’s work.

Maybe some of you think I made it. 

Did any of you think it came together randomly on its own?

It’s simple. 

It’s mostly two dimensional.  

It is only made out of a few materials.

It doesn’t even breathe.

Why do we believe it was intentionally made by someone and it didn’t evolve from say…a tree?  I’m sure not one of you thought it randomly came together on its own.  Your critical thinking skills won’t lead you there.  Neither will your reason.

It’s made in the image of something.  It’s made in the image of someone with much more ability than it.

So why do we teach our children when they are in school, who are complex, have great value and are wondrously made, that they just randomly came together?

Why is it hard for some to believe that we are made in the image of someone with much more ability than us?

Children are natural receptors to their spirituality.  We come wired for it.  But, why are we allowing their switch to be turned off in school?  Why isn’t that part of Design or spirituality allowed in critical thinking in school?

During my time with higher level learning first grade students, I heard multiple conversations and comments made by the students.  Their youthful spirits had not yet been squelched.  They weren’t tall enough to reach the switch, so to speak, to turn it off.  Kids say what's on their mind and they believe. They trust.  Often times, as adults, we are delighted by their thoughts and freedom of expression.

Some of the things I witnessed followed a poem that we read written by Julia Carney 1823- 1902, called, “Little Things.”  It ended with the words, “of eternity.” One of the children quickly said, “That’s God.”  There was no hesitation on his part to hold that in.  It was where his mind went.  The same poem was read by two more groups and each group had a child that responded in the same way.  In looking up the poem now, I just discovered that there were two more stanzas that were not a part of the curriculum that I was given to teach.  It reads on in a way that clearly is based on faith in God. The children perceived this.  Here is the poem in its entirety.

Little Things

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.

And the little moments,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

So our little errors
Lead the soul away,
From the paths of virtue
Into sin to stray.

Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the heaven above.

A considerable conversation started between the students following the reading of the ending of The Polar Express.  The characters in the story could only hear the bell ring if they “Believe.” Again, the students began sharing their faith with one another.  One child did not believe and stated in an angry voice, “If there is a God, then God is mean.  Look at all the terrible stuff. There is no God.”  Other children argued back and said there is.  The child again retorted the negative description and one of the children looked at me with upset on his face and said, “That is so mean to say!”   I did have to step into the verbal fight and asked that they speak respectfully to each other and not yell.

There is a depth of belief in these young people.  From my experience, the large majority believed in God. Why then, if it is a minority that doesn’t, that both parts are not allowed to be considered and taught?  Why are children that live spiritually, denied the ability to think spiritually?

 Another child was commenting about his ancestors’ homeland and said, “God lives there.”  Another child quickly followed up and said, “God lives everywhere, but not the devil.”  The quieter children nodded their head in agreement.

 In another situation, a group of students played “Catholic.”  They did this completely on their own and I saw no stimulation that led up to it as each pretended to be a person of the Catholic Church.  I was surprised by this play. One was a priest, another, a Bishop, another, a Cardinal and the other and more dominating child, (who had previously said there was no God) played Pope.  They set up a hierarchy of position and then related to each other based on it.  The priest was not allowed to speak directly to the Pope and the Priest was told he could only talk to “the people.”  

Sometimes children shared with me their Festivals they just celebrated and talked about the foods that they ate as part of their faith celebration.  They live it.  They shared their lives with me.  Why can’t they live it freely longer?  Who turns off the switch?  When does it get turned off?

My teaching situation was in a public school.  Our work time was relaxed and with smaller groups of students, usually seven or less.  There was more time for them to have conversations with each other as they colored or worked on projects or discussed poetry or literature.  They had freedom to speak.

Today I read and saw on Life and Liberty,  a man that puts critical thinking into practice regarding Evolution and God as he interviews people that believe in Evolution.  Some of the points at the beginning could have been made in a shorter amount of time. But, it is worth watching those that do think, start to think in a way they had never been taught until then. 

Genesis 5:1b-2 ESV  When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

 Matthew 19:14 NIV  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."