Gorgeous Girls of God

Each Sunday from 9:15-10:15 is one of my favorite times of the week.

One of my best friends, Susan, and I teach a Sunday School class for 2nd and 3rd grade girls.

We have the girls for one hour each Sunday. One hour is a teensy, tiny amount. When Susan and I became teachers we immediately created a vision for our class.

Our vision is:
1. Build relationships.
2. Go deep.

That's all.

To achieve our vision, we knew we had to say "no" to A LOT of things so that we could focus on what really matters.

We have said "no" to:
- crafts (we have done 1 craft all year....a Christmas gift for our families)
- lengthy/meaningless games (we play games....we just don't let them rule us)
- worksheets
- doing every.single.thing. the lesson plan recommends

It's not that we think the stuff above is awful. It's not. Some of it is good stuff. Crafts are fun. Long games are fun. But we only have an hour. And that stuff doesn't match our vision as effectively as the things we've said "yes" to.

We have said "yes" to:
- LOTS and LOTS of talk and discussion among the girls (Learning is social after all)
- digging into the Bible, referring to it, breaking it down, analyzing it
- LOADS of reflection (both out loud and in our reflection journals)
- lots of smiles, hugs, and laughter

When you walk into our class it's amazing the quality of conversation the girls are having. Their knowledge and love of Jesus Christ is growing. They love one another deeply. They ask thoughtful questions. They reflect.

And I would be lying if I said it's because Susan and I are just that fantastic. We're not. Not at all. It's simply because we committed to the girls to go deep and to buid relationships. That's all. Saying "no" to several things gave time for the "yeses". The "yeses" that really matter when you only have an hour.

And those "yeses" are paying off.