Shining the Light

Warning: I will be bragging on Reese in this post.  I never brag on my kids so I thought I would take this opportunity to do so.

A little bit of background: *We go to a church that is affiliated with North Point Community Church which is a huge, huge, huge church outside of Atlanta.  Our church is not nearly that size. *The preschool area is called “Waumba Land”.

Reese is a quick learner.  I think she is so smart (but I may be biased).  Each month at church they study a new bible verse/lesson.  A couple of months ago or so they were doing Joshua 1:9, “God is with you where ever you go”. They obviously do not learn the whole verse but pieces of it that they are applying to their lesson.  One Sunday we got in the car and Reese was saying her bible verse unprompted and I just had to record her.  I decided to send the video to the girl in charge of all of the preschool and just said, “She’s getting it!”  She wrote back that she loved the video and thanked me for sending it to her.  Fast-forward a couple of days, life has moved on, I have forgotten about the video.  I get an email from Kim saying that she has shared the video with several people and they have all loved it.  The girl at North Point wants permission to use it on their blog and wanted to know if I was ok with it.  I said “Go for it!”.  Fast-forward a couple of months or so and again I had forgotten about it.  Until yesterday.  I got an email from Kim sharing this link with me.  Not only is Reese’s video on there but the blog post is great!  I am so grateful for such a wonderful environment to partner with for my kids to learn about God. 

Right now Reese’s new Bible verse is from Deuteronomy 31:6.  If you read both of these verses, they are pretty much the same!  I need to get her on video saying this one because it is priceless!  She says, “Be straaaaaawng and couraaaaaaageous and do NOT be afraid. Deuteronomy 31:6.”  Sometimes she messes up the numbers.

We are also able to partner with Reese’s wonderful preschool!  One of the things she is learning right now is to “Shine the light of Jesus”.  At school they are learning about when they are kind, helpful, respectful, etc. that they are “Shining the light of Jesus.”  When they do something extra special like help a friend with out being asked and their teacher catches them, they get to flash a light (I think just one of those push lights) in the room.  It is so sweet to hear Reese catch people “Shining the light of Jesus”.  The other day we were at the park and I was a little frustrated with the way Reese was acting.  After a picnic and a walk we went to the playground. There was a special needs woman with a couple of little girls (maybe Reese’s age) who I think were her nieces. She pushed the little girls on the swings for a very long time.  Reese noticed her pushing their swings and said, “Look at that Mommy (referring to the woman) pushing her little girls.”  I said, “I know.  That is so sweet of her.”  And then Reese said, “She is shining the light of Jesus”.  In that moment my heart just melted and I thought again, “She is getting it!” 

I really do feel so grateful for Reese and our partnerships with her school and church.  I know that I could never teach her all that she is learning on my own.  And sometimes I am learning along with her.