Our Sunday School has been talking about Easter and Jesus, signs of faith and what it all means for a couple of months now. We’ve really dug into Jesus and who he was so I figured it was time to transition out of this into something new. It’s one thing to hear about the resurrection but quite another to look at how the disciples reacted to this event. I want to talk about Peter and Paul and go in some new directions. I didn’t want to just spring it on them though so I decided to do a transitional unit. I had planned a Sunday where we talked about Jesus and his reaction to everything. We were going to discuss his reaction and his complete lack of desire for vengeance when he came back.
It’s all good to say “love your enemies” but another thing altogether when you are faced with an enemy. Kids know this. They have bullies they meet in the playground each day. They are far less likely to hide their contempt either. When they don’t like someone or someone is hurting them they will let you know. I figured this would be a good topic for these reasons. After doing some work and getting everything all prepared I was quite ready to tell the kids they had to offer grace and really give people the benefit of the doubt, then it happened.
What happened you might ask? The incident. The moment when I witnessed a Man drive away from my car after smashing into it. It was awesome. A living moment where I could practice offering grace and giving someone the benefit of the doubt. As I felt the frustration build, I remembered this lesson and decided to pray. My prayer wasn’t perfect, but I prayed and went about my business after complaining bitterly to my husband. I never said I was perfect. Then yesterday afternoon while waiting for X. in the school parking lot when I notice that the man didn’t just scrape along the front portion of my car he also broke the mirror. {Sigh} Another moment to practice this whole loving our enemy thing.
Our Sunday School lesson was important for me. I’m not sure if the kids got anything out of it but I sure did. It is so much easier to love our family, our friends and people who do nice things for us. Loving others that we don’t know, who injure us or otherwise frustrate us is much harder. It’s much harder yet it’s what we’re called to do and it really has the ability to impact the world around us. When we offer grace instead of rage, we might be able to diffuse the situation at least from our side. When we offer the benefit of the doubt over accusations and outbursts, we bring peace into a stressful moment which helps us deal more graciously with others. It’s not always easy but when we practice it we really can see a change, even if that change is only within us.
I’m sure it’s not the only time I’ll have this lesson but I find it funny that it happened in a week when I was teaching on this very topic. What seemed at first to be a very straightforward lesson turned into something with more depth than I had expected. Still it’s good, I’m working on this. I’m nowhere near perfect but each time I look at my car {it’s not yet fixed} I am reminded of the need to remain calm, offer grace and to think the best of people and that’s a good thing, right?