Thus endeth the lesson....

    Here's the thing.....when you work with kids, your life is Never Dull! As a Children's Minister, I am privy to a wealth of the precious, the funny, and the downright unbelievable words that fall from the mouths of babes! Take the Sunday, several months ago. I always peak in to each classroom at the beginning of the Sunday School hour, and then again, right before I go to warm up for choir. On this particular day, I went into the Pre School room and read a story. Afterwards, I was in the robing room, putting on my choir robe (my WHITE choir robe), when I remembered that I had left my keys on the counter, so on my way to the choir room, I went back to the Pre School room to retrieve them. As I entered, I heard a gasp,then a squeal, and suddenly there was a three year old hugging me around the knees, and saying in a hushed voice...."Miss Kelley - I always knew you were an angel!"
     Tonight.....not so much. Tonight, we were overflowing with kids of varying school ages, a couple of whom were new. To get everybody focused, I suggested we go around the room and say name, age, and grade in school. Once that was done, as a segue to our lesson, I asked who the youngest child in the room was - then the oldest (we figured this out by birth dates, as we had several of each age). As I was reeling them in to the lesson, one little friend piped up - "wait a minute.....thus and so isn't the oldest (name changed to protect the innocent).....Miss Kelley is the oldest!" Suddenly the room was filled with a cacophony of agreement....."That's right"....."Oh yeah (Said with a laugh), Miss Kelley is OLD"......."She's the oldest, she IS!"......you get the general idea - in one fell swoop, just like that, I lost control of the room.  Control was soon gained by a 5 year old who exclaimed "At least Miss Kelley is not as old as GOD........" "That's right", said her 6 year old compadre, "God is the OLDEST of the Old!"......."Yeah", said another friend, "but what does that make Miss Kelley?!" Several thoughts were then bandied about (None of which were in agreement to MY suggestion that we get back to the lesson at hand!). The pitch of the room was escalating, with each child trying to outdo the other with their passionate opinions in regards to my antiquity.  I feared that a riot was eminent...and then, one of the little darlings, with elbows on the table, put her head in her hands and said "Let's face it......Miss Kelley is Older than Old".........So let it be written......so let it be done.....thus endeth the lesson!