After we read Jonah and the Whale, we asked the children to draw a picture to illustrate the story. The kindergarteners through 2nd graders drew glorious whales with stiff, trapped Jonahs inside. I asked them to draw God, to somehow depict what it meant for Jonah to pray to God and for God to listen, as well as for the whale to hear God's commands (the children loved it that a whale and God conversed!). My favorite illustration of God was drawn by a sweetheart of a girl, all decked out in her school uniform with ribboned braids; she had drawn three figures in the sky above Jonah, a large-headed God and two smaller faces. When I asked her who they were, she explained that her God had two sons. I love the idea that God has a Plan B! Sometimes, Jesus needs a break.
We visited with 60 children in 2 hours, all children so eager for a wink or a smile, a little squeeze or a mini-exchange in French, They sang with gusto, hugged as though they knew us forever, and begged for stickers and crayons because their classrooms were bare.
After Bible school had ended, the children were released and joined the long, long line of people waiting to be seen in the medical clinic. People waited hours and hours and hours to see a clinician!
It's not easy to draw the inside of a whale's belly, or to see God in those darkest, trapped places. I found it interesting that the older children were unable to imagine the whale's belly, asking us to draw examples on the chalkboard. I would like to think this was because they had never known the sensation of being stuck,or paralyzed by misery, but it is more likely because only the littlest children have the opportunity to imagine. The skills erode but the hope is there. How else can we get out of the belly of a whale?
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