Wiping the Slate Clean

By  B.J. Funk

October came quietly into my kindergarten class that year.  I had worked hard to help my children settle into somewhat peaceful days. They knew my rules. They knew how to act. After many years of teaching, I learned that a teacher needs to get order established first, and then learning could begin. I was so proud of my class. What they learned they now held as their own as they moved about our room. I loved the quiet rhythm of a kindergarten class busily engaging with my lesson plans. Going to work was fun. I looked forward to every day.

October didn’t have long to rest quietly when Paul came. He entered our room like a train zooming on the tracks and never stopping at any towns. He became my challenge as I sought to tame this bundle of energy. His grandmother brought him to my room, and I quickly learned a few things I needed to know.

Paul was from California and his parents were divorcing. Since both parents worked, they had no one to leave Paul with. He was placed on a plane in California and flown to South Georgia to live with his grandmother.  She was loving and caring, and we would have many opportunities to talk as the days moved into weeks. Paul was a good child; he was just reacting to all of the changes that had been put on this five- year-old.

His grandmother and I worked together to help Paul adjust to living away from his parents and moving so far away from all that he had known. His nervous energy was understandable. Each day he came to my class with a big smile and a new burst of energy. And each day I fell more and more in love with this adorable child.

His grandmother took him to the park and to the train station, the peanut fields and the cotton fields, anywhere that she could further his understanding of life in the south. He was very smart and learned quickly. But the best thing she did for him – the very best thing – was to introduce him to God by taking him to Sunday school and church.

I had no idea that Paul would soon preach a sermon in my class.

On a busy day playing in the various learning centers, Paul was being too loud. I reminded him to use his soft inside voice, but he was having too much fun, and each time I walked away, he became loud once more.

I had a “time out chair” for the purpose of helping the child having a hard time with our rules. I told Paul he needed to go rest in “time out” until I told him to get back into the group. He didn’t like it. He fussed about it, but he finally went to the chair. He jerked the chair around and kicked it before he finally settled down.

Soon it was story time, and after the children put away those items they were using, they gathered on the floor before me. I watched Paul out of the corner of my eye. He was moving around, eager to leave, and making little noises under his breath.

“When you settle down, come join us on the floor,” I said to Paul.

Soon, he slowly walked to our group. He got on his knees, folded his hands under his chin, closed his eyes and began whispering. I stopped reading. No one said a word. Finally, he finished and let out a sign of relief with a loud “whew!” I asked if he were okay.

He rose up on his knees and said with a confident voice, “Yes! Because when you tell the Lord what you did and ask him to forgive you, he does and then [louder and dramatic] he forgives you and then he wipes the slate clean just like it never even happened!”

Oh wow! What joy! What a blessing to have a sermon from Paul!

Two weeks ago, a dear friend wrote me a letter apologizing if he had hurt me. It was a gift to me. He said he was tired of being angry. I loved him for that.

Aren’t you tired too? According to the gospel of my Paul, take your hurt to God and ask for forgiveness. He will wipe the slate clean just like it never even happened! Afterward, breathe deeply and let out a “whew!”

That’s from Kindergarten Paul 2:1-2.

B.J. Funk is Good News’ long-time devotional columnist and author of  It’s A Good Day for Grace, available on Amazon.