“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
• How will seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness help you be a wise and discerning teacher?
• What have you set as the primary goal of your ministry with children?
Four-year-old Kristen was fidgeting with her new name tag—concentrating more on the cute cotton-ball sheep than listening to a story about the Good Shepherd. The lesson came to a screeching halt when the name tag finally tore off and fell to the floor.
Kristen ran over to her teacher in tears—the whole class was distracted. But Kristen’s teacher turned the interruption into a God moment. She picked up the name tag, removed it from sight, and said, “Kristen, did you know our Good Shepherd, Jesus, knows our names even when our name tags fall off?”
Skillfully, the teacher transformed a distraction into a teachable moment, then returned to her lesson with the smoothness of a waltz.
These God moments are brief windows of time. God opens a door—but it’ll quickly close if you don’t walk through right away. The moments are disguised as distractions and off-topic questions. They’re hidden in interruptions.
As a wise teacher, remember that it’s OK to set the curriculum aside for these moments. Don’t put a God moment off to the end of the lesson. It might vanish before the lesson’s over. Or you’ll run out of time. You’ll lose that opportunity for kids to experience biblical truth in a unique way.
If you strap yourself to a lesson, you can deadlock the learning process. Instead of feeling guilty or frustrated about a twist, respond with a desire to use the interruption as a teaching tool.
This may not come naturally at first. Being frustrated is easy—being patient and focused on faith growth is not.
But here’s the good news: When you seek God’s direction, the Holy Spirit will provide spiritual “antennae” to help you recognize—and skillfully utilize—God moments.
Sometimes the back roads, the byways off the beaten path, are the ones that lead to the most memorable places.
Take this training deeper as you think over these questions:
• How do you react to interruptions?
• How can you foster God moments in your classroom?
• What criteria will you use to discern if an interruption should take the place of the lesson?
Lord, help me prepare for teachable moments with my students by…
Children are not an interruption to the work. They are the work.
Jesus always recognized a learning moment. He knew when people were ripe for learning and he didn’t let the moment pass by. Read about the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), the storm on the lake (Luke 8:22-25), the man with the shriveled hand in the synagogue (Matthew 12:9-13).
How did Jesus take advantage of these opportunities? What impact did such lessons have? Make a list of ways those same principles could apply to your classroom. As a weekly reminder to “watch” for God moments, set out a pair of kid’s sunglasses where they’ll catch your eye as you interact with your students.
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