Known and Unknown

I had a very insightful conversation with one of my kindergarten students this week.

Earlier in the day, one little boy had asked me when a boy turned into a man. A cute question for a 6-year-old to ask. I said a boy turned into a man when he started acting like one, and then carried on with the task at hand. And that seemed to be the end of the conversation.

Later in the day, that same boy came in from recess and instead of getting his shoes on, he was agitated and was flitting about worriedly.

“Mrs. Thiessen,” he said. “You know a lot of things. Why can't you just keep on teaching us when we go into the next class and again and again until I'm a grown man?”

It was tempting to feel flattered, that this little boy thought I was so smart and that he would like me to be his teacher until he was a grown man.  (I suppose earlier in the morning he had been scoping out how long he would need to be prepared to have me as his teacher for his plan to work!). But, I knew that wasn't really what he was saying at all. I crouched down to his level.

“It's scary to think about going to grade one, isn't it? With a new classroom and a new teacher?”

And that was it exactly. He seemed relieved that I understood what he was saying. Because I do. It is scary to face something new and unknown. It would be so much more comfortable to stick with what is familiar. At least that's the way it feels right now. I told him we would arrange to go visit the grade one class before school was done and see what it was like and we would meet the grade one teachers so we could see that they weren't scary ladies.

Real fears about real life.

And then my daughter announced at supper time that same day that she was afraid of dying. And I knew what she was talking about, too. I told her that the thing to do was to meet and get to know Jesus now in this life so that moving through death wouldn't be as scary, because then you would know someone familiar on the other side.

Knowing Jesus is the answer really for facing any unknown and unfamiliar situation because he is a “known” you can count on. Jesus himself promised, “...Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20b). Grade One and death and everything in between included.