a bicycle, a box and a brainstorm binge

A bicycle.
"Hello, Teacher," said a chubby boy on a bicycle.

I didn't see him coming; I was in debriefing mode as I was walking home from a tutoring session one early evening. "Hello," I responded, though not sure if the boy had heard me, as he was riding by at a decent speed. His greeting stuck with me the remainder of my walk. It was if I had somehow strangely forgotten I was a teacher, and he was there to remind me. It was as if I needed to hear it from an unfamiliar voice. Teacher Emily.... that's me. I took a sense of confidence in that title, almost an ungodly amount of pride, to be quite honest.

Enter first brainstorm here: my mind suddenly paralleled this title to the titles we have received in Chr-st; the titles we so often forget... the titles we have to dust off every now and then when we're discouraged and dismal. Loved Emily. Forgiven Emily. Accepted Emily. Redeemed Emily. New Creation Emily. Freed Emily. Chr-stian Emily. If only we were addressed by these names on a daily basis, how altered our lives might actually be... one can hope, at least.

A box.
Just shy of a week later, I had prepared a sandbox for my afterschool class filled with... sand, among other things, namely 10 chocolate coins and some plastic letters (I was to teach the children about coins. We were going to have a coin digging competition for one of the activities). So as to keep the children focused on the introductory part of the lesson, I had the box covered with a beach towel. I began to ask the children what they thought could be stowed under the towel.

Once the first student deduced "a box", I began to pry them for ideas about what was inside the box. "Turtles!" one shouted. "Water!" said another. "Bugs!!" declared a boy. Finally, one girl raised her hand. "G-d?" I was quite astounded, though I simply replied literally and without hesitation, "Good try, Connie, but we can't put G-d in a box."

Enter the second brainstorm here: Though the words were leaving my mouth, I was eating them right back up again. "She's right, Emily," He said. "You can't put Me in a box, can you?"

These epiphanies, these moments of vision... it's not so much what was said (as it's all very elementary), but Who gave the words and how they were given... so random, yet perfectly timed.

Matthew 21:16 says, "...and [they] said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself'?" Through these two instances with students at the school, I am giving praise to my Father. One way or another, He will receive the praise. How incredibly powerful... I love when He speaks.