Do You Delight in and Collect Kids’ Quirky Conversations?

Why I Should Collect The Things My Students Say

My students crack me up. I’ve had the privilege of teaching teenagers for the last 28 years, and every week involves a good belly laugh over something one of them said or wrote.

Unfortunately, I’ve failed to collect all of their funny sayings over the years. Just think of the collection I’d have by now! During my mixed-grade study hall, Kyle—a constant work-avoider, wanted to know who got to sit in the comfy chairs in the corner near my desk.

“Today Brian and Sandy get to sit in the chairs,” I told him. Brian, one of the boys in our faculty family, hurried over to the comfy corner, eager to arrive first and claim the ottoman as well as a chair.

Kyle tried to negotiate. “If I can’t sit in a chair, may I stand here against the wall?”

“No.”

“But those kids scare me.” He gestured towards the fifteen other kids in my room and smirked. “They might bite me.”

“How do you know I won’t bite you?” I asked him with a toothy grin.

Brian piped up, “You’re vegetarian! You won’t bite.”

Yep. Made me laugh and giggle for the rest of the study hall. I delight in my students’ offbeat humor. When they misbehave, I remember that good feeling and temper my reaction.

Does God Collect Our Funny Sayings?

I wonder if God ever laughs and giggles over things we say? Does he collect our quirky conversations and smile fondly when he remembers something funny that we said when we happen to misbehave?

I think he does. Psalm 18:19 says, “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

That promise makes me smile every time I read it. Not the fact that God will rescue me, but the fact that he delights in me.

It gives me courage to live a spacious life full of grace and forgiveness.