Fluoro Paper

By Karen Petruzzelli

 ‘I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a child will by no means enter it.’  (Mark 10:15)

I have always pondered these words of Jesus.  As a mother and a primary school teacher I have come to realise that there are many aspects of children that in some ways reflect the adults in their lives. So when Jesus calls us to Himself as little children, it is not the self- centred characteristics of children that He is referring to. Instead, Jesus is focusing on the joy, the wonder and the absolute trust that embodies a child.

It is this unadulterated wonder and joy that constantly amazes and inspires me. As I work with nine year olds every day I am constantly reminded of these. I just love the way children get excited about the simplest things in life. The other day I gave the children some fluoro paper with which we covered a small book that we were going to use for something special. They were so excited and decorated them with such care and joy. It is exactly this that Jesus was talking about – every part of our lives is a gift from God. Are we excited? Do we do every task every day with care and joy?

Children are also very trusting. Almost every day I have an overwhelming sense of responsibility in guiding the children in my care. It’s a bit daunting sometimes, especially when I realise children’s perceptions of me are not quite accurate. An example of this has stayed with me for a long time.

 A new boy, I’ll call him Tim, joined our class. He had never been in a school before as he had been home-schooled all his life in a small country town interstate. My job was to help him catch up academically but more importantly to learn how to socialise with other children. It was pretty overwhelming for him but little by little he was progressing well. Every day after school he would come and chat with me and ask questions about why we did this or that. Then one day he asked me a question which made me realise that he had a long way to go. He asked, ‘Mrs. P what do you do when we all go home?’ and I told him that I did some marking and got things ready for the next day. Then he asked, ‘Yes, but where do you sleep?’  .....He was most amazed when I told him that I went home to my own house and family. He really thought that I slept at school!

So what has this got to do with trust? It is probably an extreme example, but it is an illustration of the trust this child had. His perception was that every moment of my life was spent at school. He trusted that everything we did was for his good. When we are willing to come face to face with Jesus we can trust Him with our lives as He has a plan for each one of us.

I find it interesting that the very next passage in Mark 10 is about the rich young ruler who asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. When Jesus told him to give all his wealth to the poor and follow Him the young man left saddened because the cost was too great. As adults, don’t we always seem to complicate things!

So, getting back to that fluoro paper! Every  time I use that paper I can’t help thinking about the brightness and light that I have found in my life- and it’s all because I once had an opportunity to give my life to Jesus and begin to live the life He has planned for me and be a part of His family. You can too! God has a plan just for you – all you need to do is come to Him as a child and trust Him.