During February each year our elementary school has a "Theater Week". Theater week is a time for students to work on performance skills, dress up, and show off their unique language skills. Here are some of my blogs about theater week from the last 2 years. Last year's performance when we went "around the world". And from my first year, we performed two plays including The Tortoise and the Hare!
During Theater Week we stop most of our normal classroom instruction and commit most of our time to learning lines, following stage directions, making the costumes and scenery, all for our performance. Then on Thursday, the parents come to see our last rehearsal and on Friday we perform for the other classes and also get to see their performances! It's quite a whirlwind of a week! (and very exhausting for the teachers!!)
This year the second graders worked on a play that is based on the book, "Der ängstliche kleine Spatz" Which would translate to, "The Scared Little Sparrow".
In the story the little sparrow is afraid of everything: flying, leaving his nest, getting eaten by a hawk, and even finding a mate! He often repeats the phrase, "Piep, piep, oh weh!" which is pretty much the same as "Chirp, chirp, oh no!" Then, one day the sparrow meets a wise dove who shares with him about our loving, caring God who provides for him. The little sparrow is reminded that God has protected him and provided for him throughout his life and that he can continue to trust God in all things!
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| The scared, little sparrow (in yellow) and his brother and sister sparrows in the nest (in blue and red) ready for the performance! |
The lesson form this story was an important reminder for me. There are many times that I often worry, doubt or get caught up in my own needs. When I think about the future, finances, living situations, or even work, I can get bogged down in the worries, burdens, and challenges. Like the sparrow, I forget how God has been so faithful to provide for me in so many ways in the past. I can look back and see how God has been there for me to provide for many of my needs including areas such as money to put food on my plate, a place to live, students to care for and teach, and friends that are willing to share life together.
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| The scary hawk getting ready for his big moment! |
Jesus reminds us of the care of our heavenly Father when he says, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
Matthew 6:26
God knows our needs and cares for us in a wonderful way. He has proven again and again that he knows my needs even before I do. When I trust him with the provisions of my life, he continually shows me that he deeply values each of us.
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| The scared, little sparrow does find a mate! |
I need to remember Jesus's words not to worry, to trust that he cares for us well, and to seek him first.
"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?...Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
Matthew 6:25, 27
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| My partner teacher and I sharing from the Bible and thanking everyone for coming. |
Theater week is often challenging and a lot of work, but it is an amazing display of our students' abilities in speaking English and German and for them to have experience with theater performance. This year, it was not only a time to encourage the students as actors, but to also remind them that there is a God who truly provides and cares for them throughout their lives. They don't need to worry.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Matthew 6: 33, 34
