Suffer the LIttle Children

I'm back. Back to my wonderfully mundane life where the kids sleep in and then wake up and do nothing, leaving me plenty of time to do the same.

I love Vacation Bible School, but I love it even more that it's over. My son was the only one who thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. He asked me, "Aww, how come VBS is only a week?" I told him it was because otherwise all the volunteers would become suicidal.

Aww, Mom, why can't someone carry me around on their shoulders everyday?

VBS is like Sunday School on steroids. Maybe a triple dose of steroids. Which is why I needed the triple amount of caffeine. My self-imposed job was to lead 10 soon-to-be kindergartners around, from crafts to worship to snacks to bible time to the potty every 15 minutes. It is one of the harder positions because we have to be the first ones there in the morning, the last ones to leave, and (this is the hardest) we have to be "on" all the time. "On" is the mode that engages 5 year olds. It involves a lot of tickling, a lot of vocab simplifying, a lot of pretending to understand their babble, and a lot of enthusiasm. I've never been described as enthusiastic. Easy-going, laid-back, and calm: these words are my familiar friends. By the end of VBS each day, I was almost brain-dead. Then I had to come home and prepare for afternoon swim practice.

If Sartre were alive today, he would change that infamous line to "Hell is VBS followed by swimming."

I know, I'm such a whiner.

Clearly, God wanted me to volunteer. Otherwise He would not have given me a daughter who turns into a crying and screaming octopus every time we drop her off and then spends the rest of the time pouting. I thought since I would be with her the whole time, she wouldn't break down, she could enjoy all the activities. I was wrong.

Still I'm glad I got suckered volunteered. I got to know a few cute kids and hopefully passed on the good news of God's love.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14