Trust Fall
Every Saturday morning I lead devotions for the kids. We use "El Libro Devocional de Maravillas" ("Wonders Devotional Book") to guide us. It includes a Scripture, a short explanation about what the Scripture says, and why it is important to our lives.
In addition to the reading, I always try to have a little activity for the kids -- something to help them remember the devotion.
Last Saturday's devotion was about the importance of trusting God, so I decided we would do a "trust fall" as our activity.
We used to do this at camp every summer when I was growing up. We would have to stand on platforms of various heights and fall straight backwards into the arms of our friends and fellow campers. Terrifying.
As I was preparing for the activity on Friday night, 7-year-old Anita walked into the room. I asked her to turn around and fall into my arms. She did without any hesitation. Such trust! I was totally jealous.
On Saturday morning, Anita and I repeated this in front of the other kids, who all jumped up to test it out.
Randy and I took turns catching the kids.
Then I asked Anita if she not only trusted me, but really, really trusted me. She said yes. So I lifted her onto a table and told her to fall backwards into my arms. She did. Again without any hesitation. (I did put a bean bag chair underneath her... just in case!)
Soon all the kids were on the table, falling into our arms over and over again. They would have done it all day if our arms and backs would have held up!
The whole thing went without fail... almost. For some unknown reason, EVERY TIME skinny little 11-year-old Alondra took a turn, literally EVERY TIME she fell backwards, we dropped her. EVERY TIME! And someone even pulled the bean bag out from under her when she dropped from the table so she hit her head on the floor!
Randy and I felt horrible, and apologized together and individually later. She was more embarrassed than hurt, thankfully. Though embarrassment can hurt pretty badly!
In the end, it did serve as a good illustration. I explained to the kids that it is important for them to trust their mamas and papas and friends, but that none of us are perfect. We will all let each other down at some point, and we will all be let down. But God is perfect, and He will never let you down.
SPANISH LESSON: Trust = Confianza (cone-fee-on-sah)
In addition to the reading, I always try to have a little activity for the kids -- something to help them remember the devotion.
Last Saturday's devotion was about the importance of trusting God, so I decided we would do a "trust fall" as our activity.
We used to do this at camp every summer when I was growing up. We would have to stand on platforms of various heights and fall straight backwards into the arms of our friends and fellow campers. Terrifying.
As I was preparing for the activity on Friday night, 7-year-old Anita walked into the room. I asked her to turn around and fall into my arms. She did without any hesitation. Such trust! I was totally jealous.
On Saturday morning, Anita and I repeated this in front of the other kids, who all jumped up to test it out.
Randy and I took turns catching the kids.
Then I asked Anita if she not only trusted me, but really, really trusted me. She said yes. So I lifted her onto a table and told her to fall backwards into my arms. She did. Again without any hesitation. (I did put a bean bag chair underneath her... just in case!)
Soon all the kids were on the table, falling into our arms over and over again. They would have done it all day if our arms and backs would have held up!
The whole thing went without fail... almost. For some unknown reason, EVERY TIME skinny little 11-year-old Alondra took a turn, literally EVERY TIME she fell backwards, we dropped her. EVERY TIME! And someone even pulled the bean bag out from under her when she dropped from the table so she hit her head on the floor!
Randy and I felt horrible, and apologized together and individually later. She was more embarrassed than hurt, thankfully. Though embarrassment can hurt pretty badly!
In the end, it did serve as a good illustration. I explained to the kids that it is important for them to trust their mamas and papas and friends, but that none of us are perfect. We will all let each other down at some point, and we will all be let down. But God is perfect, and He will never let you down.
SPANISH LESSON: Trust = Confianza (cone-fee-on-sah)
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