Lunch Lessons: Complete with a principal's pie in the face.

I don't know why I thought I learned all my lessons from lunch with the kiddos. I'm thinking this is gonna be an ongoing schooling of sorts. I found myself in the loud cafeteria today where a group of kids were on the stage with orange tracks going every which way. They were wrapping cars in paper squares and some had play dough. The cars were held at the top of the tracks headed for a head on collision. It looked like lots of fun and the kids were working hard.

As the group wrapped up I asked three, "What did you learn from this?"

The tallest in the group explained to me about car crashes and talked about safety. And then she says, "It is safer to have a softer cushion on the cars. If it is hard, you'll be hurt or even die in a crash."

Right there amidst the loud God reminded me it is the same with our hearts. Hard hearts aren't willing to bend, or mold, or change. When they're put to the test it often ends in destruction. Remember Pharoah's hard heart. It took multiple plagues before he listened to God. Hard hearts follow their own way...ignore God's teachings. The end looks a lot like those hot wheels cars do when they careen off the track at the point of collision.

Hearts are funny things and left to their own devices it usually doesn't end up well. How do we avoid it? How do we remain moldable, changeable, and tender towards God...and others. Two scriptures come to mind:

Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.-Psalm 51:10

Delight yourself in the Lord,
And He will give you the desires and petitions of your heart.--Psalm 37:4

She sat across the table from me a little stressed. "We only have five minutes to present," she says. We talked about getting it down to the most important thing she learned in the crash experiment. And then I asked, "You know...like what is the most important thing in the bible?" The others chime in to help..."love your neighbor as yourself...and love God."  I threw my hands up with a loud WOOHOO! Today made every Wednesday worth it...and we celebrated!

 A few other lessons from lunch today

...kids know that if they were left to packing their own lunches, their choices would not be too healthy.

...oreo pudding can make any smile look pretty gross.

...the kids voted for which principal would get pie in the face by bringing canned food for the food drive. It seems quite opposite but they voted for the principal they liked...who I watched get a pie in the face. So the principal the like won the prize--a pie in the face. Makes kid sense to me:)

...the kids did not vote for the head principal because, "you don't want to make the head guy upset".

...you DO NOT want Ty Chandler to be the pie thrower.  Let's just say you get more of a pie facial.

And finally...the teacher asks, "so whose mother are you?" I introduce myself and tell her who I am. She tells me how great my kids are. How much she enjoys them. I'm passing the compliment on to you.  In case your wondering parents...YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB!