Let the Children's Laughter Remind Us....
During Sunday service, a family with two small boys came to sit beside me. The two small boys made noise coming into the pew and for several minutes while settling down. I tried to give a disapproving look, thank God no one saw it. I then thought I could show my disproval by moving to another pew, but I didn't.
What made me stop was remembering a verse I had heard a long time ago. The verse was something about Jesus saying 'Let the children come to me,' or 'come to Me as children'. It was something to that effect. After all, these kids didn't know that they were suppose to be quiet or that they were disturbing those around them. They were expressing themselves, something I think very unique and very extra-ordinary. After all, if we strip them of expression, then we strip them of opinion. They are after all children, and unaware that their loving laughter, was wrong.
It also made me think of a time when I was a child. I remember my family had sat behind one of my grade school teachers, Mrs. Zain (a math teacher that I tried my best to please while in school--she could be quite mean at times. So pleasing her meant staying away from her cold and often biting comments). Anyway, I didn't think my brother, sister and I did anything wrong during the mass. I don't remember my parents shooting us that "hush up" look. The following week was a parent-teacher conference at school. When my mother came out, she told me she was really embarassed because many of the teachers said I was "talkative" and that Mrs. Zain had brought up the time that she sat in front of me during mass. She said and I quote "I couldn't hear God because Angel was talking so loudly".
To this day, I do feel I'm talkative, opinionated. I have written for my university paper (WVU Daily Athenaeum). I have been asked to be an emcee at other school events, asked to write testimonials, graduated from WVU school of journalism, gotten a B.S. in biology from WVU and went to medical school at Gullas College of Medicine (in a different country). All this because no one stiffled my enthusiam or laughter.
So I let the boys laugh, whisper and chatter to themselves.
What made me stop was remembering a verse I had heard a long time ago. The verse was something about Jesus saying 'Let the children come to me,' or 'come to Me as children'. It was something to that effect. After all, these kids didn't know that they were suppose to be quiet or that they were disturbing those around them. They were expressing themselves, something I think very unique and very extra-ordinary. After all, if we strip them of expression, then we strip them of opinion. They are after all children, and unaware that their loving laughter, was wrong.
It also made me think of a time when I was a child. I remember my family had sat behind one of my grade school teachers, Mrs. Zain (a math teacher that I tried my best to please while in school--she could be quite mean at times. So pleasing her meant staying away from her cold and often biting comments). Anyway, I didn't think my brother, sister and I did anything wrong during the mass. I don't remember my parents shooting us that "hush up" look. The following week was a parent-teacher conference at school. When my mother came out, she told me she was really embarassed because many of the teachers said I was "talkative" and that Mrs. Zain had brought up the time that she sat in front of me during mass. She said and I quote "I couldn't hear God because Angel was talking so loudly".
To this day, I do feel I'm talkative, opinionated. I have written for my university paper (WVU Daily Athenaeum). I have been asked to be an emcee at other school events, asked to write testimonials, graduated from WVU school of journalism, gotten a B.S. in biology from WVU and went to medical school at Gullas College of Medicine (in a different country). All this because no one stiffled my enthusiam or laughter.
So I let the boys laugh, whisper and chatter to themselves.
posted by JM at
2:56 PM
2 Comments:
And this is why your name has so much meaning!:-) I love the new look!!!
By
Anonymous, at 1:06 AM
Oops, now I feel badly for saying an expletive on your blog comments a minute ago. Mea culpa. What can I say? You were talking about scary chain email. I was frightened.
Although... I think God's probably heard it before. The curse word, I mean. Also, I'm pretty sure he understands that little boys are rowdy and have difficulty staying still.
He who created everything knows the ins and outs of it a lot better than we do. And by know, I mean to truly know, in the way that only the creator of those two little boys could. I doubt he finds their laughter offensive. It would seem to me he would probably celebrate it.
By
Sydney, at 11:45 AM
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