CHILDREN ARE NOT AN INTERRUPTION TO THE WORK, THEY ARE THE WORK.
Four-year old Kaitlyn was fidgeting with her name tag-taking the sticker on and off, on and off, concentrating more on the sticker than on the lesson about Elijah and the widow. The lesson came to a screaching halt when the name tag tore in half and Kaitlyn ran over to her teacher in tears-the whole class was distracted. But Kaitlyn's teacher turned the distraction into a God moment. She picked up the name tag, removed it from sight, and said, "Kaitlyn, Did you know that Jesus knows our names even when our name tag falls off? "
Skillfully, the teacher tranformed the distraction into a teachable moment, then returned to the lesson with the smoothness of a waltz.
These God moments are but brief windows of time. God opens a door-but it'll quickly close if you don't walk through it right away. The moments are disguised as distractions and off-topic questions. They're hidden in interruptions.
As a wise teacher, remember that it's OK to set the curriculum aside for these moments. Don't put a God moment off until the end of the lesson. It might vanish before the lesson is over. Or you'll run out of time. You'll lose that opportunity for kids to experience Biblical truth in a unique way.
If you strap yourself to a lesson, you can deadlock the learning process. Instead of feeling guilty or frustrated about the twist, respond with a desire to use the interruption as a teaching tool.
This may not come naturally at first. Being frustrated is easy-being patient and focused on faith growth is not.
But here's the good news: When you seek God's direction, the Holy Spirit will provide spiritual "antennae" to help you recognize-and skillfully utilize-God moments.
Sometimes the back roads, the byways of the beaten path, are the ones that lead to the most memorable places.
