Today's Teacher: Horror Vacui

Horror Vacui. I first learned the term in an Art class in college. It means  "fear of empty spaces," "fear of the empty," or "fear of white spaces."

Today, I came across it again while working on a layout project for our upcoming camp meeting. Thankfully, another sister has already chosen the images and created the general look of the design. My job, she said, was to arrange the elements. I am no artist/graphic designer. I'm just somebody who tries to do the best she can. So over and over again, I found myself changing images, resizing, changing colors and fonts, adding and deleting elements, and stressing all throughout. At the end of all that, I sat in front of the computer, face to face with 40-50% of white space.

This is it.
The boss battle.

I tried putting back some of the images I had already deleted. I tried one background after another. Almost exhausted, I asked myself, Why do I need to fill up this space? What is wrong with this emptiness, this silence?

When God created the earth, He made it with lots of air, lots of breathing room, lots of space, lots of peace and quiet.

That was when my favorite passages from the Bible and Inspiration came to me:

"When every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God." -EGW, The Desire of Ages

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10

"There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God." -EGW, Maranatha

Be silent. Be still. Do not be afraid of the quiet, of the inactivity, of rest, of what seems to be emptiness. It is room for the Holy Spirit to work in your heart.

Meanwhile, here is the promotional banner for the camp meeting. You are, of course, invited. And do keep us in your prayers. Maranatha!

What I Learned Most at the Recently Concluded Camp Meeting

These past two camp meetings, I have
been assigned to work with the children in a separate class. I spent the mornings and the afternoons teaching them scripture songs, memory verses, Bible stories, and the basics of our fundamental beliefs. This meant that I missed four of the five daily plenary sessions, since I am able to attend only the morning worship and the evening session each day.

But this has not hindered me from receiving some very important reminders from the Lord. One of them I learned through a mistake I made while teaching.

I was doing a lesson on the Judgment and the Book of Life, how we need to get our names written in that book so that we be judged worthy of eternal life. I was trying to make it easier for children to understand the requirements. I told them, “If you are good children, doing good things, helpful to mother and father, kind to other children, obedient to the commandments, your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

Right? Right?

The children all agreed. “Who wants to go to heaven?” Every hand went up. “Then be good kids, alright?”

A resounding yes!

I was happy with the attentiveness and the response, contented happy. I was doing my job as well as I could. I smiled from the inside. But then I glanced at my presentation notes, and in a split second I knew I made a grave mistake.

Of the way to be registered in the Book of Life, my notes said, “Receive Jesus into the life.”

Had I mentioned that? Had I told them that they had to have Jesus in their lives so they could be obedient, kind, good kids? Had I told them they couldn’t do it on their own? Had I told them Jesus died to make it possible? Had I told them how to receive Jesus?

Just then, one child or another began to be distracted from the class and in the next split second I was losing their attention.

So I let the thoughts slip by. I had them sing songs, memorize their verses, and color in their activity sheets. I drilled them on the sanctuary furniture, and on which things are holy and which are common. They really enjoyed that. Then we prayed and I let them go to their parents.

But today, more than a week later, it still bothers me.

So this is how it happened. This is one of the reasons why when I look around me and inside me, I see “adults” who have difficulty grasping that we are not saved by our own works, that it is the blood of the righteous Son of God alone that can cleanse us from sin, that only through Him can we have righteousness, that good works apart from an intimate, saving relationship with Him (if that is at all even possible), can avail nothing.

It is what we have been taught even as children.

God help me. God help every Sabbath School teacher all over the world. God help every parent and teacher. God help the children.

Our Leafy Kindergarten Ebenezer

So this quarter at church, I am back to teaching Kindergarten Sabbath School. To be honest, I was hesitant at first. I mean, it's been four years! But now I thank God for the privilege.

We started a little late this quarter, but we're definitely making up for it through our study of the Beatitudes. This particular subject is perfect since the adults are also studying EGW's Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing.

So what we're doing is going through the Beatitudes one by one, focusing on "Be-Attitudes" as opposed to "Me-Attitudes". Our learning device is a beehive with bees labeled according to the beatitudes. I am going to share the materials that we use for class on this blog in future posts. For now, allow me to share with you what really made me happy today.

The bigger girls (who had already moved on to a different class) excitedly met up with me after lunch to help decorate the tree branch from which our beehive hung.

We cut leaves from japanese tissue paper to stick on the branch made from felt paper. These are not ordinary leaves, mind you. On each leaf, the kids wrote or drew the things they were thankful for, like family, food, rain, sunshine, and the privilege of prayer. Even the smaller kids pitched in. While we worked, we talked about our blessings and how the trees around us should always remind us of our faithful Provider and Friend. As many leaves there are on trees are the blessings we receive from God, probably even more! We must remember to develop an attitude of gratitude.

I was truly touched when one of the students drew a girl and wrote "Thank you for our teacher who teaches us about Jesus."

That prompted another leaf from me.

This tree will be our ebenezer for the quarter. Needless to say, I had a happy Sabbath. =)

January 28, 2017

Hold Fast

(We were asked to write poems for our upcoming Camp Meeting with the theme, "Hold Fast Till I Come")

Inspiration: Sister White's vision of the narrow way

"We have hold from above!" "God holds the cord! God holds the cord!"

The path that you are travelling
to the end soon will come.
See all the signs fulfilling,
But the battle has just begun.

You will be tried and tested;
But in Me, there is no fear.
To the narrow way I have opened,
Walk in; hold fast. I AM HERE.

Hold fast My hand outstretched to save;
Hold fast the white robe that I gave;
Hold fast the faith that works by love;
Hold fast the truth, Oh, sell it not.
Till I come - Yes, I will come -
Child, I am holding you,
Won't you hold fast too?
Hold fast till I come.

Set your love on things above;
There's nothing here you can keep.
Watch and pray; trust, obey;
Go forth in tears, and in joy reap.

Now take your cross and follow Me
Into the secret place of the Most High.
When the night seems at its darkest,
Look up, redemption draweth nigh.