What Makes a Rainbow?

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ~Deuteronomy 6:7

What beautiful days we have had this week. The winds of March are calming, and April showers have begun. I want to get outside, put my feet in the grass and my hands in the dirt. I want to cherish the blooms in the flower beds. I want to walk among the apple trees and smell the sweet fragrance. We walk among a rainbow every day, often without realizing it. But when those April showers come, and the sun shines through the droplets, we still stop in awe. We point. We take pictures. We ask our friends, "Did you see that rainbow yesterday?" Little children are even more mesmerized. I wanted to share What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Schwartz and offer some ideas for using it with your youngest children.

A rainbow is God's promise to mankind after the flood that He would never destroy the earth by flood again. We still have horrible floods, but not one that covers the whole earth. Can you imagine how the earth was renewing itself after the flood? Springtime was bursting forth with hope everywhere.  Mrs. Schwartz's book also bursts forth with the colors of spring. At the top of each page is a ribbon with a color of the rainbow. The page is filled with things we see every day with that color. The first page is red, and the page has a red ladybug, strawberries, and a flower with red petals. Each page is the next color of the rainbow with large kid friendly illustration. The last page opens up with a pop-up rainbow with a sun. The mother bunny declares that now Little Rabbit knows what makes a rainbow - rain and sunshine. Though God is not mentioned, you as the parent, have a great opportunity to teach about the flood and God's grace. You also might use some or all of the suggestions below to help your child(ren) understand rainbows and colors.

• On a warm day, spray the water hose while the children run through. Point out the rainbow the water and sunshine create. Name the colors. Move the water and try again. Do the colors always line up the same way? 
• Help young children learn to identify colors by pointing out the things they see around them, both inside and outside, that match the colors in the book and in the rainbow they see in the water.
• Paint a rainbow. Pick up the 3 primary colors (red, yellow, blue), a paint brush, and a paint pad at the dollar store. Use a spray bottle to wet a piece of paper. (A little squirt on the child will bring giggles and get attention for the activity.) Pour the paint in little puddles on a foam plate. Help the child make a red arch at the top of the paper. Then, choose the yellow and make another arch close enough for the yellow to blend into the bottom of the red. Now the blue paint next to the yellow. Help the child see the new colors that the mixing makes. Finally, add red again under the blue. 
• Roy G Biv It's a little hard to see the indigo in the rainbow, but your older children may be able to distinguish it. Oh, R red, O orange, Y yellow, G green, B blue, I indigo, V violet. 
• Make the activities fun and fun of giggles. It shouldn't look like teaching. It's sharing memorable moments with your child. 

Heavenly Father, help us enjoy sharing your creation with our children. Help us show them what a wonderful God you are. Help us make memories with our children that will last a lifetime. In Jesus's name. Amen

Half-Truths

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

 ~John 8:32 NKJV

I'd like to share a review of the YA(13-17yrs) novel Half-Truths by my friend Carol Baldwin. Set in the 1950s, the story is very relatable since I am a baby boomer from this era. It was the time of the Civil Rights movement in the South. So much was unspoken, sometimes because of fear, sometimes to keep a civil conversation among family, often because of cultural traditions, and sometimes because of skeletons in closets.

The main character, Katie Dinsmore, is a teen born and raised on a tobacco farm near Tabor City, NC. She wants to go to college and earns money helping in a hardware store in town. Her dream was to be a journalist but at the time that was not a job for women. The story opens with Katie working in the store when a Negro family (the historical term used in Mrs. Baldwin's book as well as the term colored, also historically correct) comes in to make a purchase. Her Papaw enters to make the announcement and his excitement of the KKK parade that is about to begin. When he sees the family shopping in a white owned store he goes off on another tangent, scaring the lady and her children. The tension is already set to make this book a page-turner. 

Katie's scheme throughout the story is to get a college education, but her family can't afford to pay her way. So her half-truths begin. She asked to go live with her grandparents in Charlotte, who are estranged from her dad but who also have the money to send her to college.

The book is filled with the half-truths that cover so much of all our lives, balancing the political and traditional norms of families who disagree. Her dad and her Papaw disagree on the rights of all people to live with equal opportunities. This disagreement wasn't just at the level of the working class, but it permeated to the upper-class society of Charlotte.

Another half-truth Katie finds herself entangled in is pretending to be someone on the outside that she knows she is not. She tries to please too many people for so many reasons that her life becomes filled with half-truths that harm others as well as herself.

She brought two of her pets, Josie the goat and Baccy her dog, with her to Charlotte. They are the comic relief in the story but also play an integral part in helping her discover who she is. Her grandmother's maid wants to work in the science field, but college for a black girl is even more impossible than college for a poor white girl. Katie's goat got ringworm. Grandmother's maid wants to help the goat so she can win a science fair project. Together, Katie and Lillian, the maid, sneak into her dad's funeral home at night for chemicals to help the goat. They overhear an NAACP meeting. The city plans to move the cemetery at Lillian's church so the city can use the land. 

But there is yet more for these two girls to discover. There is a photo in the attic that contains both Katie and Lillian's family. When Lillian is required to take Katie shopping, the clerk mistakes Lillian as the shopper instead of the country girl with the rich grandmother. Lillian could be mistaken as white. Lillian must serve at a luncheon for Katie, where Katie refers to her as the help. She and Lillian already know the truth, but this slight causes a rift in their relationship that may be unfixable.

Heavenly Father, help us love one another as You love, not seeing the color of our skin or the traditions of our past. Help us love one another with grace and truth. In Jesus's name. Amen. 

Hey Kids:

With parents' permission, I think this book could be used as a supplement to history lessons, project based lessons.

• Discuss with your parents and grandparents what life was like when they were growing up
• Katie needed to learn etiquette to participate in her grandmother's society. What forms of etiquette do you need to learn? table settings, passing food, taking turns while speaking? 
• Visit an old cemetery - whose buried there? soldiers, family, children, rock markers, slave graves? Consider, those who do not know the past are condemned to repeat it. 
• How can you show kindness to others who might need friendship?
• How can you work towards your life goals? 

 

Spirit Led

 


The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ~John 3:8KJV

March – kite flying season. I love the way the wind makes my kite dip and swirl and takes it almost out of sight. Sometimes the string breaks and takes my kite wherever it wants and I wonder where and who sees it.

We are a lot like kites. When we are without Christ, Satan pulls the strings and directs our lives. Like kites, we pull against the string and try to break away. Jesus told Nicodemus that the wind is like the Holy Spirit that comes into a person’s life without being seen and causes changes that take a Christian in new unseen directions. The Holy Spirit, through the power of Jesus Christ, breaks the bonds that tie us to sin. Only then can we be free to be carried by the Spirit to accomplish God’s purpose for our lives.

Is sin holding you down? 

Ask Jesus to forgive you and give you that new life of joy and peace that only He can give. 

Others will see and hear when the Holy Spirit directs your life. Your life may bring change to their life too.

Heavenly Father, may we be directed by Your Holy Spirit, taking us in new directions for Your glory. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Hey Kids:

Have you ever wondered where your kite or balloon went after its escape?

Here's an idea.

Get together with a group of friends and ask permission from your church to use the church's address for this experiment. (Your parents may not want you to divulge your home address).

Tie a note with a Bible verse or invitation to a kite. Be sure to include the address of your church. 

When the replies come in, use a map to find the distance your kite traveled. 

What direction did your kite travel? 

How long did it take to travel the distance? 

What kind of terrain or obstacles did it have to overcome? 

Be sure to follow up with the person(s) willing to answer your invitation. 

Perhaps you'll see a new face at church.