Luke 6:31 (NIV)
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
When I was a little girl in Sunday School, dressed in my best patent leather shoes and bow-tied dresses, we repeated this verse every week. It’s served me well for over 60 years.
Let’s go out and do for other children as it was done for me.
Um…I learned, “Do unto others, then split!” (Yes, ‘split’ was and remains part of my vocabulary, dig?)
Can’t say it served me well, but it did get me kicked out of Sunday School. Well, several of them.
I’ve never kicked a child out of Sunday School. My first church teaching assignment was one-on-one with the most troublesome kid. He craved attention, so it was decided that we’d give him 100% of my attention.
They did try giving me attention, but my leaping from a third-floor window into a tree…and then onto the convertible roof of a teacher’s car kind of sealed things.
I had my 4 & 5 year-olds in the pew, ready for their turn in the Christmas program. One of the little boys lay down on the floor and started pinching the girls’ legs. The girls jumped, screaming, onto the pew seat. I grabbed the boy by his ankles. I had him upside down hanging between the pews with absolutely no place to put him that wasn’t already occupied by scrambling girls. I had to step into the aisle to get him head up, feet down. Fortuitously, it was our time in the program and I shepherded my wound-up flock onto the stage. One of the girls chose that moment to take off her shoes and hand them to me, followed by her pinafore. Thankfully, our little Christmas ditty was over before she completely disrobed. Several people claimed it was the best Christmas program ever.