5 Things I Learned from Mom

Happy Monday! Hope you had a marvelous weekend! I spent it traveling for my mom’s birthday, and it was a special time of celebrating her.
Which gets me thinking. My mom was more excited than anyone else when she found out I was moving to Nashville to work on VBS. That’s because for as long as I can remember, my mom has been a teacher, but her secret identity is VBS Super Woman.
Not many days go by that I don’t remember and use her advice. In honor of my mom’s excellence as a VBS mentor, here are some lessons I’ve learned from her.

1. Get excited! My mom has childlike excitement down to a science, which taught me not to grow up too fast. She proved the point on her last visit. It was just after the Giant Inflatable Game Cube (005630803) released and I left it in my living room floor. As I expected, it was the first thing she went to after hugging me. Her excitement was second only to…well, mine!
2. Plan too many activities; know you won’t use them all. As a new teacher, I was terrified of running out of activities. My mom told me to go ahead and prepare a lot of activities, but not to be upset if we didn’t finish everything. It’s more important to get Biblical truth across to kids than to finish a to-do list.
3. Make decorations interactive and reusable. My mom’s a simple decorator for VBS. But what she does is memorable. Her yellow wagon shows up every year as a train car, taxi, roller coaster, and more. Kids love to be pulled in it, not to mention that it’s handy for packing supplies.
4. Don’t focus on decorations. My first year teaching, I obsessed over making my decorations impressive, complex, and unique. I’m sure my 3- and 4-year-olds appreciated it. My mom urged me not to stress but to spend more time learning Bible content and loving my kids. She was right of course. My kids will never remember what their room looked like that year. They will remember that I loved them like my mom taught me. Like Jesus taught us.
5. Love is the same in every language. It’s not easy to ruffle my mom. Was she phased when half her kindergarteners spoke only Spanish, a language she’s barely heard? Nope. She called me that year, excited over new friends and new words she was learning. Only God knows how instrumental her willingness to be flexible has been in the spiritual lives of so many kids.
I love and respect my mom a lot. Whoever it may be, I’m guessing you also had someone who mentored you as you learned to minister to children. Share their name in the comments and then share this post! Let them know how thankful you are for what they’ve taught you. Speaking of which, I think I’ll go call my mom. Some things can’t be said too often.