A few months ago I scheduled an appointment with Shelly, a woman at church who is in charge of the children's ministry, Kingdom Kids, to see if perhaps there was an opportunity there to serve. It turned out that they needed a teacher for half of their 3's class ... and I was told I was an answer to prayer! I tried to explain to her that perhaps I wasn't quite what they were looking for ...
They graciously assigned a mentor to me (Pat) and she very kindly shared her lesson plans with me and let me bring "my 3's" over to "her 3's" for several weeks for the teaching portion of the class ... so that I could observe ... and learn ... and gain confidence ...
And then Mr. Jones and I left for Texas and were gone for three Sundays! When we returned home this week, I was instructed that it was time for me to test the waters and teach my 3's! I wish I could say that my response was a casual, "No big deal." But instead, I felt like I was back in my high school days, anticipating the first of three manditory speeches for speech class! My entire body felt sick ... physically, tangibly ILL ~ you know ~ shaky, dizzy, sweaty, nervous, nauteous ... !! I prepared my lesson, compared it with Pat's lesson plans, got my visuals ready, prayed (!), tried to memorize the verse and the key thought of the day ... and as we were driving to church this morning ... I thought I was going to be sick ... my nerves were shot! I was terrified! I'm serious. I am not afraid of the children. They are three years old! I can play, laugh, clean up after, care for, interact ... but teach? NO. See how the plane in the picture looks like it is going to CRASH AND BURN? That's EXACTLY what I felt like this morning!
I'M NOT A TEACHER! It simply is NOT a gift I have! The environment itself is rather intimidating. It's not like it was at my home church in Detroit that had tiny little curtained off rooms with a round table and four children. This is a large area with 10-15 children, high-school helpers, a curriculum to follow, worship songs to lead, a designated puppet to manipulate and bring into the lesson, a chair at the head of the class to sit in and TEACH ...
Well, I lived through it and so did everyone else. Honestly speaking, I didn't really fly solo. The high-school helpers who come each week are wonderfully capable kids who step up and do a great job. The woman who heads up our hallway offered to lead the worship songs (whew!) and then I did the lesson. I survived it, but it was a rather surreal experience ... I feel such relief that this morning is over ...
There is a play time before the lesson, and a small craft and snack time follows. Once the lesson was over, I had a great time! We had ten three-year-olds today ~ beautiful little children ...
Six weeks are left in the quarter, which is all I have committed to. Next week's lesson is the story of the stoning of Stephen (for three-year-olds?!) I'm hoping that if teaching 3's is what the Lord wants me to do, He'll help me to feel less stress about it ... otherwise, I think I will simply do what I know I am good at doing ... I am a far better stewardess than a pilot!
2 comments:
I prayed for you our entire ride into church this morning, knowing that you would be flying solo! I know that you did great despite your nervousness. I imagine that the second half of the class after your teaching was done was the best part right?
I feel your pain! You are brave. We work with the 2-4 year olds one Sunday a month and I'm so out of my element! I'm okay just helping them individually, but ask me to teach or corral and I'm hopeless and frazzled. =)
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