{"id":3575,"date":"2019-04-14T08:48:19","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T12:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etheriedge.wordpress.com\/?p=3575"},"modified":"2020-09-20T14:46:10","modified_gmt":"2020-09-20T18:46:10","slug":"last-of-innocence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/14\/last-of-innocence\/","title":{"rendered":"Last of Innocence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I love<em>\u00a0teaching<\/em>\u00a03rd graders at our church&#8217;s Sunday<em> school<\/em>. It&#8217;s not really school and I&#8217;m not so much a teacher -it&#8217;s more listening and sharing with little people. How I love their hearts.<\/p>\n<p>Large group with the other grades is where the bulk of Sunday&#8217;s message happens. There&#8217;s music, dancing, a story and fun video. The boys and girls usually sit apart and whisper.\u00a0Far too soon this will change&#8230;<em>\u00a0<\/em>I pray for them silently.<\/p>\n<p>Back in our classroom we do arts and crafts, play games and talk about what they learned.\u00a0On the whole, the girls are better listeners than the boys&#8230; but I&#8217;m usually surprised at what they retain -even while talking video game strategy. &#x1f644;<\/p>\n<p>How I love those kids. Just like my own, they hold a special place in my heart.\u00a0They live in the precious years of Santa, Easter baskets and make-believe.<\/p>\n<p>The girls love their dresses and sparkly shoes. Sweet faces glow of natural beauty.\u00a0The boys still let me give a quick hug and tell them <em>&#8220;God made you to be\u00a0brave, strong men of God.&#8221;<\/em> They don&#8217;t resist or laugh at that yet.<\/p>\n<p>Too soon all this will change.\u00a0Childlike innocence will give way to hormones, worldly knowledge and the pressure to look<em>\u00a0cool. <\/em>Middle school and PG13 movies will become hot topics as high school approaches at lightening speed.<\/p>\n<p><em>Oh God, guard these precious little hearts that You&#8217;ve given me just a moment with. Keep them, protect them, tie them to You. 15 is coming fast and they wont be prepared for the onslaught of testing&#8230; nor will their parents! I pray for grace for what&#8217;s ahead.\u00a0<\/em>&#x2764;&#xfe0f;<\/p>\n<p><strong>ForGlorySake! &#8211;<\/strong><em>Anna<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3588\" src=\"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/img_5433.jpg\" width=\"2791\" height=\"3949\" srcset=\"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/img_5433.jpg 2791w, https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/img_5433-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/img_5433-768x1087.jpg 768w, https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/img_5433-724x1024.jpg 724w, https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/img_5433-1568x2219.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2791px) 100vw, 2791px\" \/><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love\u00a0teaching\u00a03rd graders at our church&#8217;s Sunday school. It&#8217;s not really school and I&#8217;m not so much a teacher -it&#8217;s more listening and sharing with little people. How I love their hearts. Large group with the other grades is where &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/14\/last-of-innocence\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[125,624,954,953,800],"class_list":["post-3575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-practical-life","tag-children","tag-prayer","tag-prepare-hearts","tag-sunday-school","tag-teenagers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3575"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6233,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions\/6233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}