By Diann Kroos,
PreK teacher at North American Martyrs School, Lincoln
The path God leads us on is one of unexpected turns but with each twist His grace is there to sustain us. That has been my journey this year teaching Pre-K at North American Martyrs during a pandemic. With each turn from my normal path, His grace was there to greet and guide me.
I have learned time and time again that all I have to do is present Him with enthusiasm and love, and then move out of His way. He will do the rest!
One example of this is our weekly Adoration time. The Bible tells us “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’” (Matthew 19:14). We come into the church, with all 17 of our 4- to 5-year-olds, and kneel before the Blessed Sacrament. I try to lead the class in prayer, to teach then to talk to Jesus as our best friend. It can be hard for the entire class to hear between the distances between us, wearing a mask and talking in softer tones as we share the church with adorers in for their holy hour. As you can imagine, squirming was inevitable and before long, I felt that I lost their attention. Such is the life of a Pre-K teacher.
The Holy Spirit prompted me to change our adoration routine. Instead of bringing the whole class once a week, bring a small group of four or five once a week, Monday through Thursday. At first, I’m embarrassed to admit, I resisted. This seemed like too much work on my part to be successful. By the second and stronger prompting, I knew this is what the Lord was calling me to do.
I wasn’t sure how I would carry this out four times a week. The group going to adoration would have to miss out on their ‘free play” time. In our Pre-K world, ‘free play’ is a favorite part of the day. I never want the children to feel that time with Jesus is second-best or be disappointed in their time with Him. With all of this in mind, I gave it all up to Him.
The most unexpected and beautiful blessings poured from this new adoration adventure. The children were thrilled to go to adoration in small groups! Every morning they would check the daily schedule to see what group was able to have adoration that day. And if time got away from me, the children would remind me it was their time to be with Jesus in adoration.
During our time in adoration we formed deeper relationships with our Lord and with each other. Adoration became all about nurturing our souls and I saw so much less squirming.
Another unexpected turn occurred in our adoration time. Every group asked to do the stations of the cross. We would walk through the stations and talk about how much Jesus loved each of us. With the fewer children, I was able to make it more personal to them. As the children hungered to learn more about the stations, the Holy Spirit again guided me to put the stations in our room, at eye level for the class.
I took pictures of the stations in our church and put them in frames. I placed them on the shelf for the children to look, study and talk about. They were now able to tell the story to themselves and to each other. They will slowly look at each one as they walk by to another activity. They know the story so well that when a picture gets out of sequence, they will tell me. This again is an example of bringing Jesus to them with enthusiasm and love, and then just getting out of His way. He will always draw them to Him!
Another way that our God has been with me on this path through the pandemic has been to give me the most amazing people to work with. I cannot thank Him enough for giving me the priests, staff and parents of North American Martyrs this year. Their encouragement, hard work and love of the Lord has edified and lifted me in those times when it felt overwhelming and challenging.
So as we continue on this path full of twists, turns and some bumps, let’s remember the path-maker has already paved the way for each of us. He is right there beside us as we travel on. Many times we just have to present Him and then move out of His loving and perfect way as He is bigger than a pandemic.
