So yesterday, I read an amazing blog by a dear friend in which she posted that she had been challenged by a sermon to take the 23rd psalm and rewrite it from the point of view of her occupation. It was quite powerful. I couldn't stop thinking about it and decided that it was an excercise that fit perfcetly with what my second graders were learning about poetry so I thought I would give it a try in second grade. Since their occupation is student and the Lord is not really our student, I decided to make it the Lord is My Friend...since that is another important role of a 7 year old. Some of you might be skeptical...second graders rewriting psalms?! But just wait....it turned into one of my best bible lessons ever. Here are a few I found especially powerful. I wish I could post them all, but I am prehaps the only one who wants to read 16 of these :)
The Lord is my friend,
I shall not want,
He makes me cry of happiness
He leads me to heaven
He loves me
He is the truth
Even though I have sinned,
I will not sin more because I love him.
The Lord is my friend,
I shall not want
He makes me smile
He leads me to Jesus
He helps me when I'm hurt
He never leaves me alone
Even though sometimes I am bad
I will not leave God because he won't let me.
The Lord is my friend
I shall not want
He makes me joyful
He leads me to heaven
He tells me what to do
He never lies
Even though I am scared
I will not cry because he is with me.
Now my one child who has suffered brain tumors since 3 months of age did not quite get the rewriting part of the activity. But the poem he came up with is still powerful when you remember this child has had brain surgery multiple times, most recently 2 months ago and he struggles with basic academic material:
He help me-
when I am sad he help me be happy-
he loves us-
he is powerful-
when I die I will go to the sky-
he help me-
he loves us-
we love to him-
he gave us life
he gave us food
he gave us clothes.
Kids are amazing. Now I am not saying all my kids got all parts of the activity perfectly. I had one child write that the Lord led him to a beautiful shoe store. But every child had at least a part of their poem that showed a true understanding of at least part of who the Lord is. It's days like this that I am extra thankful for my school and my kids.
1 comment:
I don't have words to express how wonderful those were! heheh, and maybe a good friend would lead us to a beautiful shoe store :) those lines were so honest and real and true. thanks for posting them... i'd love to read more :)
love you friend!
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