
The workshop was a huge commitment of time, but the
instructor was charismatic. Many evenings I returned home in a feverish pitch
of thankfulness to have four opportunities be the best mother I could possibly
be. And, indeed—my children, then ages one, three, four, and six greatly benefited. One
of our favorite family rituals—the Stay-up Night—evolved from the teaching of
that inspirational woman, Veronica Beacom Dreves.
Bonnie, as she was known to her friends and students, was
passionate in her determination that young children NOT hear any Bible stories
in Sunday School. No one should acquire a childish understanding of such
grownup topics as scripture! She was full of examples of the distortion that
occurs when concepts acquired in childhood impede adult faith, so the Sunday
school that my young children attended in the ‘70s was as enlightened as any program
offered anywhere in the country.
Helping children think about concepts they would later
attribute to God and matters of faith, such as the capacity of unconditional
love, the importance of each person, and the reverence nature deserves,
comprised the essence of early religious education for those of us who adhered
to Bonnie’s philosophy. By reinforcing
the magnificence of the natural world with preschoolers, teachers were laying the foundation of
spirituality in adulthood. Bonnie's curricula included a lot of ways to develop and enhance self-esteem in children, especially necessary in a world where they often feel powerless.
I thought about Bonnie a week ago when I picked up the newspaper
and misread a headline. You see, one of my favorite memories from those Sunday
school days is a lesson called the “Power of Small,” and that lesson came back to figuratively smack
me over the head as an old woman. First I skimmed the headline, then began reading
the article. Huh? My expectation was completely wrong. Why? I had skipped over
one tiny letter—“a," the smallest word in the dictionary. Here I've copied the headline to show you what I accidentally read.
In the “Power of Small” lesson, the Sunday school teacher brought
in cloves of garlic to the classroom, one for each child to hold. Oh, the
little organic cloves . . . so tiny and insignificant. Beneath the radar . . . yes? Then the children
were told to crush the garlic. Ee-ew! How evident power of tiny, small,
insignificant—every piece, every component in the universe matters. Most importantly, how important are the small people . . . people who are four or five years old!
The next part
of the lesson involved examining individual kernels of unpopped corn. And then
. . . the grand finale . . . you guessed it. With plenty of mother-helpers and
a closely supervised hotplate, the teacher popped a batch of popcorn with the
lid off the pan. The visual impact of the energy in a small amount of those
kernels is spectacular.
So it is with the tiniest word in our language, the simple
stand-alone “a.” It can change the meaning 180 degrees. Wow!
1 comment:
Sallie, thank you for your lovely tribute to my mother. A cousin posted the link to a family Facebook page and it blessed my heart this morning. What an encouragement to know that her lessons live on in the hearts and minds of her students. She would have celebrated her 86th birthday this week although she left us too soon, in 1986 when I was a 24 year old mother of two little ones. Our five kids are now all adults, and it seems mother is still teaching me from the grave. I shall try to remember the little things, and when I do, will think of your reflection, and my mother. God bless you this day and always!
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