a weapon in church?

A couple of weeks ago, the kids created a "mold" of their face with aluminum foil. There were specific instructions about reaffirming children that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, in fact the instructions were so specific they even said to remind the children not to fold up the aluminum foil into a weapon. Wow, that's pretty detailed!

In one small group though, the aluminum foil was not the weapon.....

As the kids were making face molds with their foil, one first grader struggled to get the foil around his glasses. He tried and tried and tried, and then, the unthinkable happened! A leader from another grade saw him looking at his attempt at a mold and snatched it from his hands saying, "We told you not to create a weapon." The little boy was crushed! His small group leader was crushed, but tried very hard to salvage the situation by telling the little one the other leader just made a mistake, and all people make mistakes right?!?

Our words are so powerful! This little one was convinced he should cover his face, he thought it was a weapon, all because of the powerful words one assuming leader spoke. This is nothing new, Proverbs 12:18 says; "The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

I pray that this weekend we all choose to leave our weapons at home as we minister to His children. Let's all be wise and use our words for healing!

Faith, Hope & Love