Problem Solved!

Last Sunday’s Bible story is one of my favorites (Acts 12:5-17). Peter was imprisoned for teaching about Jesus. His friends gathered and prayed in earnest for him. At the jail one night, everyone was sleeping soundly when an angel appeared and led Peter, free of his chains, out the jail door. Peter went right away to the house where his friends were and knocked on the door. A servant girl, Rhoda, went to the door and recognized Peter’s voice. She was so surprised to hear Peter at the door that she quickly ran back to the people who were praying, to tell them Peter was at the door, but forgetting to actually open the door and let him in. They thought she was crazy, but she kept insisting, until they went to the door and, amazed, discovered Peter, still standing there knocking. I love the story, maybe because it seems like the sort of mistake that I might make.

getting ready for group time

In Sunday School (with 3-year-olds, Pre-K’s and Kindergarteners), during group time, we sing, we pray, we count the kids, we hear the Bible story, and at some point, we usually look at an illustration of the story, and often pictures from previous stories, too. Children have several opportunities to help during group time. Some choose markers from the Bible, some choose a book to read, some get puzzle pieces to fit together or pieces of a game to play. There are any number of things to do, but holding a Bible story picture remains a popular option. Sometimes children will pick up a picture and bring it with them to group time, supposing that possession would mean they could actually get to display it at some point to friends. Many mornings I have said to children, as they clutch pictures to their chests, “Please put that behind you right now, and you can show it to your friends later.”

Sunday morning, there were two or three different pictures illustrating the story, placed around the room as kids were working in centers. In group time, after I told the story, I began to ask, “Did anyone see a picture . . .”

And before I could finish the sentence, a boy sitting on the floor next to me jumped up, and reached behind a box of plastic building blocks. “There’s one

Yep. There it is.

right here,” he said, pulling up a picture.

A little surprised, I said, “Well, yes there is. I don’t remember putting a picture there.”

“I put it there,” he said, holding it up so the other children could see it.  Ah. Evidently, at some point during the morning, which was busy, he noticed the picture, carried it to where we have group time, and tucked it away.

There are a couple of ways to think about this. I could say to myself, Why, that little scamp. Here he is, at church, being all secretive and sneaky.

Or, I could say, That’s pretty impressive thinking and planning ahead.

Of course, he did hide it, creating much less of a chance that someone else might get to it before he did. But that’s the problem solving of a pre-kindergartener. I want to hold a picture at group time. Look, here’s a picture. How can I make sure that I can hold this picture? The he figured out a way to make it happen.

We’re very bad, as adults, about ascribing our own adult sensibilities and attitudes to the actions of little kids. We’re usually wrong when we do that. They don’t have the same thought processes, feelings, or motives to their actions as we adults do.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NRSV)

Paul says that when he became an adult, he put an end to childish ways. Paul needed, as we all do, to mature. It’s appropriate for three-year-olds to act like three-year-olds. I’m wrong if I expect kindergarteners to act like third graders. I’m also wrong if I become angry when young children act like young children. My job is to understand what happened in Sunday School (that kid had a problem and came up with a workable idea for solving it), and then try to figure out how to help him discover some alternate solutions.

I imagine that there are times when God wishes I would be more mature about the decisions I make. I also imagine that He understands what happened and helps me discover a better solution. Thank Goodness.