Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

The other day in fourth grade was one of those "worth it all" days. It started out crappy. The kids were talking and they would not be quiet and pay attention. We always start out by saying the date, saying and singing the monthly memory verse and then choosing someone to choose a song for the whole class to sing. The entire time it was noisy and I felt like we weren't getting anywhere. It was Jafet's turn that day to choose a song and he, in the spirit of the season, wanted to learn a Christmas song. So I "randomly" chose Joy to the World, since it's pretty easy and fun to sing. We sang it through once, with the participation of about a fifth of the class. I got frustrated and told them to all sit and put their heads down on their desks. That apparently did the trick and, after a bit of down time and me talking to them, they were ready to work. So we sang Joy to the World again, this time with the participation of the whole class. Then we talked about what it meant. The line "Let every heart prepare him room" got special attention. We talked about how the innkeepers in the story of Jesus didn't have room in their inns for Jesus. I dramatized it. They had fun saying "No!" When I asked if there was room. Then we talked about how lots of people today don't have room in their hearts either, how some people just want to drink or work or study and they don't want to go to church or read the Bible and they don't care about God. We talked about how we all have a door in our hearts, a door that can be open or closed, a door at which Jesus knocks and asks if he can come in. I asked them if they wanted to be like the innkeepers and say there was no room. I also said that Jesus won't just open the door and say "Ahem! Attention please! I am now going to live here in your heart, like it or not!" We have to open the door for Jesus. And we talked about how Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts and says to each one of us, "May I come in to your heart?" I ended the day by praying with them if anyone wanted to open the door of their heart to Jesus and talking about how when Jesus is in your heart, He tells you what is right and wrong, what is true and not true and how to live and He tells you that God loves you. As they scampered out to recess afterwards, I was talking with some of them and had the distinct feeling of "Wow, this is worth it!" It was exciting and I thought that was the end of it.
The next day they wanted to sing the same song again. They really liked it. After we sang it and were all sitting down again, Sebas had a question. "Profe", he asked, "how do you know when Jesus is talking to you?" That's not something I'm always completely confident about either, but I gave it my best shot. "Well," I said, "sometimes when you're in Bible class, did you ever think 'Wow, I think what the teacher is saying is true' or 'That makes sense'? That's God talking to your heart right then. And sometimes when you're reading the Bible and you think 'Wow, if God could help them, He can help me too', that's God talking to you. And even sometimes when you have peace in your heart, that is God giving you that peace." Then we got into a discussion of peace and I shared with them the saying "Know Jesus, know peace; no Jesus, no peace". It was fun because they were able to understand the humor in it, even though it was in English! And then I shared with them a riddle that my friend once shared with me: "What's greater than God, more evil than Satan, poor men have it, rich men need it and if you eat it you die?" (nothing) They got that too. So we ended up talking about God things for the better part of two classes and mixing that with English and they were having fun and learning about God and learning English at the same time! Yes!!!!! It gave me an idea for a permanent English bulletin board in the hallway for next year, to try to get the students playing with and interested in English by putting games, puzzles, etc there. But more than that, it was encouraging just seeing how God took that crappy day and turned it into a great day and a very fun day and a day that, I trust, will plant seeds in the hearts of my students. Praise God for those "worth it all" days!