There they were… two hearts. One bruised, stained, and broken. The other one was glittery red, and gorgeous enough to join the knickknacks in anyone’s curio cabinet. Thus began our recent Precious Jewels’ lesson on the “Heart.” Not the one that pumps blood, but the one that is the seat of all of our affections and emotions… all that we love and hate and struggle with. At this “Precious Jewels” meeting, we had one mission: to help these 1st through 4th grade girls understand the immeasurable gulf that exists between our hearts and the pure loving heart of the One we so love: Jesus.
“Look at all this stuff that was in Granny Pam’s heart before she gave her life to Jesus,” I said as I pulled out one after another crumpled little wad of brown paper from the tarnished heart. “Stingy… jealousy…Pride…Disobeying Mother…” I read. “Do you know that Granny Pam did some of these ugly things every single day of her life before she had a relationship with Jesus?…”
“I loved living this way and had no power to change,” I said as I unfolded and read from each little wrinkled piece of brown paper.
I so wish you could have heard all the “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” that slid out of those sweet little girls’ mouths as I revealed the beautiful, red, glittery heart. “Now this is how Lord wants to change ALL of our hearts,” I said as I unfolded each neat little slip of paper inscribed with red, swirley-lettered words that filled this heart. “Now there’s Comfort, and Friendship with God, Peace, and Generosity... Only God can make us radically different.”
With the God’s Precious Jewels group, our meetings are, typically,“3-D” to help the girls understand and get a clear, visual picture of the Bible verse or principle we’re sharing. And during this particular lesson, they learned that “hearts” are about a whole lot more than those little pastel-colored candies they pass out on February 14.
Happy Valentines Day!!
