My little egg-breaker

I have been taking time during intersession to write and reflect on the past year. I keep coming back to one kiddo who makes me smile just to think about her. I previously wrote about her in teachable moments which explains why I will refer to her as my little egg breaker for lack of a more creative name.

One memorable morning My little egg-breaker raised her hand during share time and announced she had a question, which actually turned out to not be a question so much as witnessing the Gospel.
“If your mama dies and doesn’t believe in God, Jesus is God then she is going to rot in the ground forever, but if she believes in God, Jesus is God then she will be an angel. When a body rots in the ground the worms eat it-“
I tried to cut her off before she could go any further.
“Did you learn that in Sunday School, My little egg-breaker?”
“No, I learned it from the man that came to my house. And you’re mama better believe-“
THANK YOU MLEB. I calmly (I hope!) recognized her belief, said she and I could talk about it later, but that not everyone in our class had the same God so we weren’t going to talk about it with the whole class. And then I kept talking so she couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
During writing workshop I looked up to see her whispering with her table group. “And if your mama doesn’t say she loves God then the worms and the rats will eat her in the ground-“ One of my little boys had started crying by this point.
MY LITTLE EGG-BREAKER! You may talk to me about that if you have questions, or you may talk to your mama, but you may not talk about that in our classroom anymore. You are making C. cry!
“Yes Ma’am” She was always very polite. She batted her eyelashes a bit to let me know she was going to be good…

As we were packing up to go home I heard sobbing coming from the coat closet. My little egg-breaker was holding confession by pulling children individually into the closet to witness to them about what would happen to their mamas if they didn’t believe in God, Jesus is God. C., one of my special education boys, was sobbing uncontrollably. The buses were being called, one child was crying, many were whispering, and My little egg-breaker stood there perfectly still, a small smile peaking out behind her serious expression.

The following week we were enjoying our library lesson when the librarian asked them what rules they have in school, hoping to connect to the book she was about to read. My little egg-breaker raised her hand, always ready to participate, and began telling the librarian that the rule in our classroom is that you aren’t allowed to talk about God, Jesus is God, because C. will cry because his mama don’t believe in God, Jesus is God, and is going to die and her body will rot and fall apart and the worms and rats will eat it. But we NEVER talk about that, she finished, smiling at the very confused librarian.