Friday, May 13, 2016

Love and Language

Once upon a time I taught my 4th graders about showing love to their neighbors, as was required in my Bible curriculum. I didn't spend an exceptional amount of time on it, though. It was one of those topics that I hit on briefly, but moved on...

Well, fast forward a month or so. 

I inform my kids I've signed us up to lead Elementary Chapel one Friday in May. I tell them we have plenty of time to decide what to do. But I suggest utilizing the resources we have access to (a family fluent in ASL) and learning either a Bible verse or a short song in Sign Language. I said we'll just pick something short and simple (to keep it easy)

But one of my kids isn't satisfied with that and raises his hand with a better idea. 

Ms. Nichols, You taught us before that we need to show love to our neighbors. And you know, one way we can do that is by speaking a person's language - like talking to our guards or the ladies that clean our classroom in French or Wolof. Well, J's dad is deaf so he doesn't get to enjoy our chapel times like the other moms and dads. So what if we did more than just a memory verse and song? What if we did EVERYTHING in Sign Language? Then we can show love to J's dad."

The other students quickly agree.

I point out it will take a lot of practice.

I need to make sure they'll put in the work required to make this plan happen. 

They all assure me they will give 100% in practicing and my friend says again, 

But Ms Nichols, Jesus showed love to all of his neighbors. We need to be more like Jesus and show love to everyone. And we can show love to J's dad by "speaking" his language.

Who am I to argue with that rationale?

So I emailed J's mom and set our Super Secret Chapel Service plan in motion. She agreed it was a great idea and contacted some friends to help us too. And for the past month, we've been practicing each week, learning Sign Language and other spoken words/motions to tell a story, sign a song, and to tell a lesson we learned from it all.

My 4th graders have worked so hard.

And it showed. 

Today was the day of our Super Secret Chapel Service. I stood to the side so I could signal each of my crew at the right time to come out on stage. So I got a view of everyone involved.

I watched as two introduced our Super Secret Chapel plan - one voicing and one signing. And later I watched them as they recapped the lesson/moral of the story. 

I watched as each one introduced themselves (well, their characters).

 I watched as they, as a group, acted out (through signing) the story of Jesus Walking on the Water. And then I watched as they signed the lyrics to a song.

They did an AWESOME job!


I have watched my kids work so hard for the past month preparing for today.

They've given up time in the computer lab (which they LOVE). 

They've given up free time in the afternoon (which they LOVE).

They've come straight from P.E., hot and tired, and worked for over an hour, stopping after each little part, tweaking it so it was as close to perfect as possible.

And why?

It all started because one boy (not from a Christian home, by the way) had the idea that we could be more like Jesus and show love to our neighbor by "speaking" his language.

And me?

I had tears silently falling throughout the entire program.

I have never been so proud of these 10 kids whom I call "mine."

They took a Biblical principle and applied it to life in a real way.

They showed genuine care and compassion.

They showed love.

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