A few months ago, Andy from the AIM office in the US contacted me. He had received a few small plastic yarn stitched crosses from a woman who wanted to support an AIM ministry by stitching these for them. Andy remembered that we have a Weekly Kids’ Bible Club and thought the crosses might be a nice gift for the kids. Receiving the email, I wasn’t sure what I would do with the crosses, but after thinking about it I decided they would be a fun gift for the 25-35 kids I teach each Friday afternoon.
Weeks passed and I totally forgot about the little plastic yarn crosses. One late afternoon, Dan arrived home from the hangar with a small manilla envelope addressed to us, but I did not recognize the return name or address. Wondering what could be inside the fat envelope, I opened it to discover it stuffed with the many multi-colored plastic yarn crosses. Each of them was carefully stitched with varying combinations of colors. Each of them was beautiful. Each of them clearly stitched with love by a woman in the US unknown to me.
I was delighted to receive them but still wasn’t certain when I would give them to the kids. I knew that I didn’t want them to be ‘just a small gift’, but I somehow wanted to use them in conjunction with a lesson I would teach. Not yet knowing the lesson, I tucked them into a cupboard, to be used at a future time. More weeks passed and one Friday a few weeks ago I was trying to decide what to teach the kids that afternoon. I had recently spent a couple of weeks talking with them about contentment. But what would I teach today?
Last spring, my ladies’ Bible Study had studied the books of 1, 2, and 3 John. It had been a powerful time of digging deep into God’s word. As I had studied these books, it seemed that each week I came away with 2 simple but profound messages: love God, love others. It was everywhere in John’s books. Since completing that study I have again and again been struck with how many times the Bible teaches this simple but important lesson. Love God, love others. This is what I would teach about.
As usual for me, I set out to find an online Bible lesson about teaching kids the importance of loving others. I found one using the parable of the Good Samaritan and after reading through it, thought it would be perfect. While the passage in Luke definitely talks about loving God, the emphasis of this teaching was on loving others, which is what I wanted to emphasize to the kids. I spent much of the rest of the afternoon preparing what I would need to teach. As I was going about my preparations, I remembered the little plastic yarn stitched crosses. Could I give them to the kids this week? Could I incorporate them into what I was teaching? Could they be something that would help them remember the lesson I was teaching? I needed inspiration.
I finished up making the glass jar with the words LOVE OTHERS taped on the front, and Luke 10:27 typed out and taped on the back. We would use this jar to brainstorm practical ways the kids could love others after reading and discussing the parable of the Good Samaritan. I had already cut the strips of papers onto which we would write their ideas. But how would I include the crosses? Finally it came to me. In the story, the Good Samaritan clearly showed love by his actions. It cost him something. Isn’t this how it is? When we really want to show love to someone, it often comes at a cost to us. We inevitably give up something of our own, our time, our resources, our rights, when we choose to love someone else. Isn’t that what Jesus did? He gave up his throne in Heaven to come down and live amongst us, to suffer pain, loss and rejection, to be separated from the Father. And didn’t He pay the ultimate cost of giving up His life to save us? It cost Him a lot to show His love for us. And isn’t this how the Good Samaritan showed his love to the beaten man left for dead on the side of the road? He took his time while passing by to stop and check on the man; he used his oil for the man’s wounds. He placed the man on his donkey and took him to an inn, where he paid the innkeeper the equivalent of 2 days’ wages to have him look after the injured man. He then committed to come back in a few days to check on the man and repay the innkeeper any money he had spent caring for this man, a stranger to him. It most definitely cost the Good Samaritan a lot to love this stranger, who, by the cultural standards of the day, should be his enemy.
As I was thinking about it, here was a woman in the US who does not know me. She does not know the kids in this Bible Club. But she does know Christ who paid the ultimate sacrifice for her sins. She knows His love and grace in her life. So this woman, who loves God, decided to love some kids she doesn’t know. She chose to give of her time, money and energy to stitch 45 beautiful plastic yarn crosses. Each one stitched with love and care. Each one stitched to show these kids the love of Christ by her sacrifice.
As I again looked at the crosses, it finally came to me. Not only could I teach the kids that this woman from the US loved them, even though she did not know them, by lovingly stitching these crosses. But as I looked at the crosses, I saw another way to drive home our lesson. The cross is made up of two parts. One part points up, the other points side to side. Maybe this could be the reminder to the kids as they take their crosses home. Every time they look at it they can remember that the part that points up reminds them to love God, as it points up to Him. And every time they look at it they can remember that the other part, the cross bar that points side to side, reminds them to love others, as it points to others around them.
That afternoon I went to our Weekly Kids’ Bible Club as usual. We enjoyed our game time followed by a simple snack of biscuits and water. We sang our songs and then had our Bible lesson time. After reading Luke 10:25-37, discussing the parable of the Good Samaritan and then brainstorming ways the kids could actively love others, it was time to give them the crosses. I pulled out the small, fat manila envelope and started by telling them that I had a gift for them. I carefully explained that the gift was not from me, but from a woman in the US who does not know them. I told them she does not even know me. But, this woman, who doesn’t know us wanted to love them. When I pulled out one of the lovingly and carefully stitched crosses to show them, I could hear gasps from the kids, gasps of excitement! And when I handed a cross to each child, I reminded them that every time they look at that cross they can remember that the Bible tells us to love God and love others.
~Lesli
The Halvorson Family in Africa 