Care Corner Photo Journal - volume 6
If I could only teach one lesson each year...it would be this one lesson. The Holy Spirit lesson. How do you explain the Holy Spirit? It's hard enough for grown-ups to understand...so how do you even begin to teach 1st graders about the Holy Spirit? I borrowed this one lesson from Sr. Jackie who used to teach at our school. And...it works. For 14 years it has worked. We discuss how Jesus went back to heaven but He didn't leave us alone. He sent us the Holy Spirit to help us follow Him. When we do something really loving and caring, our heart is happy. And when we make a bad choice our heart is sad. That is the Holy Spirit helping us know what Jesus would want us to do. The Holy Spirit "lives" in our hearts. So we decorate our white Holy Spirit heart with a white crayon. And...as they are coloring trying to fill in the whole "inside" of the heart someone says "I can't see it." Then we stop, put down our crayon and close our eyes. We gently rub our hand on the heart we just "colored" and someone else says "I can feel it." And...therein...you have the explanation of the Holy Spirit...you can't see it...but you can feel it...in your heart. After the magical part of the lesson, we then decorate the "outside" of our hearts to show others our love for God and Jesus. Some kids will forget this lesson by next week. But...some have told me they remember it in high school...and beyond. If just one student feels closer to Jesus at the end of this day than they did when it started...then I am again grateful and blessed for...this. one. lesson.