Kitchen Table Wisdom

VBS Church Hill UMC 2024

With our church’s Vacation Bible School looming around the corner, and all the work I have yet to finish before it begins, I find myself asking a familiar question:

Why do I do this?

Why do I spend countless hours preparing lessons, organizing supplies, decorating rooms, and making sure every detail is ready? Why do so many volunteers give their time, energy, and creativity to make one week happen?

Believe it or not, the answer is found in the echoes.

Because Vacation Bible School is never just about one week.

The decorations will come down. The crafts will eventually be forgotten. The snacks will be eaten, and the songs will eventually fade from memory.

But something much deeper remains.

In the lives of those children, the love of God shared through faithful people can echo for a lifetime.

I know this because I have experienced it myself.

There was a time in my younger adult years when I found myself making choices I knew were not good. Looking back, I can see the places where I wandered and the mistakes I made.

But I also discovered something important.

When I realized something needed to change, when I needed wisdom, when I needed direction, and when I needed to remember who I wanted to become, I found myself returning to the lessons I had learned as a child.

The truths planted in those early years had not disappeared. They had become part of the foundation of my life, waiting for the moment when I needed to remember them.

The simple truths I learned through church and Vacation Bible School remained within me in the echoes of memory.

I had learned that God created me.
I had learned that God loved me.
I had learned that my choices mattered.
I had learned that forgiveness was possible.

Those truths had become an anchor, even when I struggled to live them out.

Eventually, those memories brought me back to church with my own children.

As they grew older, I began to see the challenges every generation faces. The influence of friends, the pressure to fit in, and the many voices competing for their attention began to shape their understanding of the world.

I knew they needed more than I could provide on my own.

They needed the same foundation that had helped guide me.

They needed to know they were created by God, loved by God, and called to live according to God’s ways.

And, I wanted them to experience what had shaped me.

I wanted them to know the love of Jesus.

I wanted them to have people in their lives who would encourage them, teach them, and remind them that faith was not simply something we talked about on Sundays. Faith was a foundation for everyday life.

Because it was not only the lessons that stayed with me.
It was the people.

The people who taught us at Vacation Bible School did more than share Bible stories. They showed us what faith looked like.

Their compassion, their love for Jesus, and their love for us shone through clearly.

They did not simply tell us that God loved us.
They showed us God’s love.

They took the time to make faith fun and relatable. They understood that children learn through stories, songs, creativity, laughter, and relationships. They found ways to take the timeless truths of Scripture and help children see how those truths connected to their own lives.

In many ways, they followed the example of Jesus.

Jesus taught using things people understood. He talked about seeds, sheep, fishing, bread, and everyday life. He took deep spiritual truths and brought them close enough for people to grasp.

Those faithful VBS teachers did the same thing.

They helped children discover that God was not distant.

God was present.
God loved them.
God knew them.

I remember one year when our church was preparing for Vacation Bible School, and only twelve children had signed up. My pastor was discouraged. Looking at the registration numbers, he said, “We only have twelve children.”

I smiled and replied, “Then we have twelve more than if we had none.”

Because those twelve children mattered.

They were not simply a number on a registration sheet. They were twelve children created by God, loved by God, and precious in God’s eyes.

And they needed to hear it.

They represented twelve opportunities to share the love of Jesus. They represented twelve lives that could be touched by faithful teachers and caring volunteers.

Sometimes we forget that the kingdom of God has always grown one heart at a time.

Jesus never seemed as concerned with crowds as He was with individuals. He stopped for one person. He noticed one person. He healed one person. He loved one person.

If one person mattered to Jesus, then twelve children certainly matter.

Every year, churches around the world hold Vacation Bible School. Volunteers prepare decorations, gather supplies, learn songs, practice lessons, and sometimes wonder if all the effort is worth it.

It is.

Because we never know the seeds God is planting.

The child sitting quietly in the back of the room may remember a kind word spoken by a volunteer.

The child who feels unsure may discover that church is a place where they belong.

The child who hears “Jesus loves you” may carry that truth through difficult seasons of life.

Years later, those children may not remember every craft they made or every game they played.

But they may remember the people who loved them.

They may remember the joy.
They may remember the feeling of being welcomed.
They may remember that someone showed them the heart of God.

We never know how far an act of faithfulness will travel.

A lesson taught to a child today may become the foundation that carries a family closer to God years from now.

Vacation Bible School lasts only a week.

But sometimes a week can shape a lifetime.

The decorations will come down. The supplies will be packed away. The volunteers will be tired and ready for rest.

But the echoes remain.

They echo in the choices we make.
They echo in the kindness we offer.
They echo in the faith we carry.

And they echo because faithful people took the time to share the love of Jesus with a child.

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NRSV)

Cathy D.