God's children

KIDS ARE GREAT.

Growing up I got teased a lot by the kids in my class. As the years went by I never really learned to like kids, and claimed I would never get married just so that I could avoid having my own kids. Eventually, I started thinking badly of God’s creation, though. I would say things like “I don’t like babies because they are stupid, ugly, loud, and they smell bad.” When in reality I just didn’t know anything about how to handle babies or act around them because I never had exposure. That’s also partly because I was afraid of being a bad mother and didn’t want that much responsibility on my shoulders.

At the beginning of my first year, I made it very clear to the woman in charge that I did not like children even though I was required to help the church minister to children. She put me in check-in where I can mostly greet and help parents. However, that only lasted for the beginning of service, so for the rest of the hour, I would go to a classroom. In the room I helped the teacher entertain the kids by coloring with them, helped with students struggle to do the crafts, handed out snack while the teacher gave instructions, supervised while they played on the playground, led kids to the worship room, and even sometimes gave the lesson myself. I got to explore pretty much every age group from one-year-olds to fifth graders. While I enjoy serving, working with so many kids often overwhelmed and exhausted me.

(This is me and two of my first year girls with some kids at Bayside's weekly Saturday outreach, Adopt-A-Block. I drew a picture for Synthia who's hugging me on the left, and she loved it.)

Through Twenty-Four Seven I have learned to love kids by serving in Bayside’s children’s ministry, A.C.M.E. Almost every weekend for a little more than the last year, I served as a volunteer in the church’s Green Room. The Green Room is a place for volunteers’ kids to safely hang out instead of hearing the same Sunday School lesson four or five times every weekend while their parents served. This is where I found my niche in children’s ministry at A.C.M.E. I pretty much just get to play and have fun with the kids, watch movies, play video games, and things like that; my favorite part is probably the conversations I have while coloring. After working in that room almost every weekend, I’ve built some relationships with some of the kids, and they even recognize me outside of church. It’s great to see how I’ve had an impact on their lives by watching their attitudes and behavior towards others improve. Now I know that I can love kids; even if I never really like children super deeply unless they’re my own, I have a new perspective on parenting and God’s love for people.