Our annual Careers Day took place last week in Prep! The delight on the students’ faces as they got to come to school dressed in a different kind of uniform was priceless. There were fire fighters, soldiers, doctors, singers, pilots, chefs, and artists. The creativity of the students at playtime was taken to another level as their dress-ups unlocked a whole new world of possibilities for their pretend play. Looking around at the incredible variety of the different ‘careers’ represented, I was reminded just how unique God has made every child. At just 5 years old, they each already have a distinctly different set of interests, skills, likes, dislikes, experiences, and understanding of the world.
In 1 Corinthians 12:25-28, Paul describes the role of the Church as a body made up of many different individual parts. Each part is unique and special and has a particular purpose in God’s plan for the world. His unique design of each child is on purpose. He doesn’t make junk.
Growing up, one of my favourite children’s books was ‘You are Special’, by Max Lucado. Every day the wooden people called Wemmicks did the same thing: stick either gold stars or grey dots on one another. The beautiful, talented Wemmicks got stars, while the ugly, damaged, clumsy Wemmicks got dots, just like Punchinello. Eli the wood maker teaches Punchinello that he is special in God’s eyes, no matter how others might evaluate him.
What a creative and caring God we serve, and how wonderful that he wants to know each of us personally. No matter others’ opinion of us, or even our opinion of ourselves, we are more precious than gold to our Creator God. This is a lesson that our Preps will do well to cherish as they journey through school, and into the rest of their lives.
