Bean Bag Blessings

Hey all. I just couldn’t wait for the weekend to share a bit about this week. I won’t be able to write it all now because I’m exhausted and it’s late. Today we took the kids into the gym to play a little bit, but I was feeling pretty lightheaded, so I was sitting against a wall relaxing when the two kids started fighting over a balloon. Mind you, these are the two kids in the VBS group that push my buttons the most. Like every day. I have to keep my eye on them at all times because they’re constantly doing things they know they shouldn’t be because they desperately crave the attention. I try so hard not to get frustrated with them, but when I have 20 other kids running around and screaming, it’s hard to keep the hairs on the back of my neck from standing on end.

So today, (we’ll just call them G & N) were fighting over a balloon and one of my girls, Amy, took it away from them. So N, in her natural fashion, started sulking. She picked up a bean bag and started throwing it. I told her to keep in near where we were because I was afraid she’d get it in the middle of the game of tag the other kids were playing and someone would get hurt. So she brought it back and we started tossing it back and forth to each other. I wasn’t particularly interested in playing with her since I was feeling dizzy and she had already used up her sass allotment for the day, but I knew that I needed to love this little girl the way Jesus does.

So we start adding variations to our game of toss. We tried tossing two at a time and other things like that, when eventually N started trying to catch it behind her back without looking. So, having played softball for the majority of my life, I would throw it right to the target of her hands every time. And every time, she dropped it. She would try to grasp it when she felt it hit her hands, but it was too late. It was keeping her amused, so I figured I’d let it keep happening.

And then it hit me. Not the bean bag. Well, actually, that hit me a few times too; she doesn’t have the greatest aim. But something else hit me too. She kept missing the bag because she just wasn’t looking. And I thought, “How often do we miss what God is doing or what he has for us because we’re just not looking?” What would we catch if we would just look? God will hit every target we give Him, and He’ll throw us the bag over and over and over again until His arm feels like it’s going to fall off, but we’ll never catch it if we don’t look. And I wondered how much I’ve missed.

So fast forward a few hours and I’m cleaning up after our very messy craft. And one of my guys, Robbie comes in asking if I can talk to N because she’s “acting up a bit.” So I of course agree and walk into the chapel where the kids are playing a game, and I hear N wailing at the top of her lungs and I see that she’s on the floor, crawling under the pews away from everyone.

I rolled my eyes because she tends to pout dramatically whenever she doesn’t get her way. I went to talk to her and she started to crawl away, still wailing. I touched her leg gently to try to keep her in one place to look at me, and somehow God gave me the grace to be gentle, patient, and kind with her. I wanted to scold her and tell her to rub some dirt in her emotional wounds and deal with it. But I didn’t. I asked her what was wrong – what happened. I told her I wanted her side of the story. She wailed that her sister said she didn’t want to play with her. Her sister, who was several years older, was also at the VBS. I told N that I’d go talk to her sister and try to them to talk it out. Her sister declined and I didn’t feel like it was my place to force it, so I didn’t.

I went back to N and she was upset, but I talked to her a while longer, and she started to crawl away again, so I let her. I talked to Robbie, the guy who brought me in, telling him just to let her be unless she starts interfering with the other kids, and if so to come and get me. But by the time I turned around, she was already standing up, calm, and playing with the other kids. And I thought of what would have happened if I had been short with her. And I got to see God’s heart for her for a moment.

So that’s a little update. I hope it encourages you. Peace and blessings, y’all.