Shedding Some Light

A ‘Reading’ Lesson

Every once in a while, at bedtime, Zachary, my 7-year-old, needs to talk. Sometimes he simply melts down. Everything seems so bad. But if you lie with him long enough and listen, things get better.

Last night was one of those occasions. At one point he began to cry. He had lost his grip on God, he said.

That’s a strong statement for a first-grader. After I gently pursued the topic, he said something about his Sunday school teacher “not being able to teach.”

Still not understanding, I probed further.

“There’s no way she can teach if she does not know the Bible,” he explained.

Now I was really confused. “How do you know she doesn’t know the Bible?” I asked.

“If she hasn’t read the whole Bible, how does she know what happens at the end? How can she teach if she hasn’t read the whole thing?”

“How do you know she hasn’t read the whole Bible? Did she tell you that?”

“No!” he cried through his tears. “But ever since Sunday school started, her bookmark has been right in the middle of her Bible, and it has never moved. She could have been done by now, but she’s only read half of it!”

I thought I was going to lose it. I explained that some people mark special verses in their Bibles with a bookmark:

“Mommy and Daddy have Psalm 121 marked because that is the verse they chose for their wedding.” Then I kissed him goodnight and went to share a gentle laugh with my husband.

Leave it to a child to put such an exclamation point on the end of a day. Can you believe the things kids notice?

It’s a point we should not overlook.

—Christa Barnhart
via the Internet