I spent this last week volunteering at my church's Vacation Bible eXperience (School). After working at an elementary school for a few months, I thought volunteering at my church's VBX would be a breeze. I'd be with less kids, and I'd have them at a different time of the day, so to me that seemed like it would be easier. The moment I walked in I realized that was not the case.
I should have guessed that a room full of third graders would have been hectic. It took a while for them to adapt to the program, to get to know the other students and to know who their leaders were. Once we had everything figured out and we got more and more into the routine every day, it got easier. In the end, I was even sad to say that it was the last day with my hectic group because I had so much fun with them.
Overall, I can draw two conclusions from this week. The first was most definitely how my desire to become a teacher increased. I had assurance with all of the doubts that came about on if I really wanted to focus on teaching young students all day, every day, for the rest of my life. Children have such great energy that makes working with them fun. It was so wonderful seeing my impact on the students in my VBX group, yet it only gave me a glimpse of what was in store for my future.
Another thing that stuck out to me this week, which I thought about a lot, was how open they were with talking about God. At the end of the first day, a boy came up to me and said "There is only one way: God," and on a different day a girl asked me, "Are you a Christian? Do you listen to Chris Tomlin?" There was even another girl who knew so much about what was being talked about, which was pretty impressive. The openness that all of the students had this week was eye-opening. Kids can say all kinds of stuff, but at some point as they get older they tend to say less and less of what they are truly thinking. For myself, I sometimes won't voluntarily talk about the first things that come to mind, and I won't ask people personal questions about their lives unless they bring it up first.
Something happens between the time they're in elementary school up to high school that impacts their voice; their wanting to speak up on specific topics, including religion. I don't know what happens that changes people's desires to talk openly, but it's enough to seemingly reduce the importance of the talk of religion and other important topics.
Matthew 18:3 says, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." The children I interacted with this week showed me the importance of having childlike faith. Openly talking about God can lead to great things; if only more people were willing to do so. I have a problem with this, as do many others that I know. It all leads back to being open and honest about what you believe, just like children.
The students in my VBX group were crazy, but they were just the right amount of crazy to want to come back next year and volunteer for their group all over again. Maybe when I do, I'll learn something new at the end again as well.
