Atrium Blessings

Being back in the atrium with the younger children brings such sweet treasures. The first few sessions are often a bit chaotic as the children learn to separate from parents, get to know the rythm of atrium life, and orient themselves to this new space. Much of our time is spent with practical life, a way for the child to gain motor skills, independence and the ability to focus for longer periods of time. It never fails to fascinate me how still they are as they work.

C was a young 3 year old when she began atrium in the spring of last year. She is a joyful child and often spent her session chattering in a mix of English and Spanish that we didn't quite understand. Her favorite materials to work with were the Good Shepherd, the Visitation, and the Last Supper. At first I was a bit hesitant to show her such big works, yet she had her own unique way of engaging with them. We'd often see her, book in hand, chattering as she read a page before pausing to move the materials.

I was happy to see her back with us this year, the same joy, and now completely understandable. She was busy for most of today's session with practical life, yet toward the end asked me to read as she worked with the Last Supper. Before beginning, I reminded her to gather Jesus and two apostles from the basket - we generally start this way because the children are very meticulous about choosing who is Peter and John. We began the scripture and Peter and John dutifully prepared the room. Next we read, "As it grew dark, Jesus arrived with the twelve." I pause there so C can place the figures. After thoughtfully placing Jesus at the left side of the table, she began to set the apostles in front of the table. When she was done, she looked at them for a while and then announced, "Scoot, scoot, scoot," while placing some on the left side of the back table and leaving others at the left side of the front. She then turned them so they would each look at Jesus. While this was happening, one of our new children joined us. She is younger than C and reached for the figures. C looked at her briefly, but didn't say anything. I invited B to watch after confirming with C that this would be okay. C, having now moved everyone to the back of the table, was happy with where everyone was, so we read again. "He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, saying, take, this is my Body." C places the bread in J hands and then back on the paten. B looks quizzical. "In the same way, He took the cup...." Again, C places the chalice in Jesus' hands and then back on the table. B reaches in, takes the bread and offers it to each of the apostles. C watches for a couple of seconds before picking up the chalice and doing the same thing. Neither spoke, each intent on her work.

I left them to it, leaving the Garden of Olives for another day. Such a beautiful moment - such a beautiful gift! Thank you, Jesus <3

Praising Jesus...

...through our art:

...through our work:

...and through our meditations:

The Kingdom of God...

...is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with  three measures of flour until it was leavened through. Matthew 13:33

The children in the atrium spend quite a bit of time pondering this parable. Almost every session, a child will set up a work space, get the material from the shelf and ask Sarah to read the scripture before carefully measuring out three measures of flour into two glass bowls. One bowl will have a small measure of yeast added before mixing a bit of water into each bowl. They think about the yeast - could we take it back out? Can we still see it? What did Jesus mean by these words? How is the Kingdom like the leaven? They'll take the containers to the counter, cover them with a towel and mostly ignore them until the end of the session. When we gather for prayer, the child who's chosen the work will retrieve the bowls. We marvel at the overflowing bowl of the leavened dough and compare it to the unchanged dough in the other bowl. Again, we wonder what secret that reveals about the Kingdom of God - the Kingdom of Heaven.

Today, one of the children discovered that the leavened dough was stretchy and another discovered its stickiness. Their words caused me to contemplate God's tenacious love for us. Later I was reminded of the pervasiveness of yeast. This microscopic fungus happily migrates to affect its neighbors. Even wild yeast can be collected relatively easily. The Kingdom is here and all around us, affecting the world even when we don't see it. We know how this story ends and I am so very grateful.