Legos, Faith, and Education: Building Foundations that Can't be Shaken

Like many families, Legos are very popular in our house. Some of our children enjoy following directions to build a set. Others prefer making whatever pops into their heads at the time, using whatever pieces are on hand. Often, they go back and forth between the two.  There are indefinte ways to play with them, all which have the possibility of resulting in triumphs or failures. But, all require an understanding of both the blocks themselves, how they relate, and a plan in order to produce anything.

Pretend for a minute I hand my 11 year old the Millennium Falcon Lego kit. But, I take all 1,254 pieces out of their bags, remove the instructions, throw out the box, and tell him, "Put it together."  He may be able to get bits and pieces of it together, but putting together a complete Falcon is close to impossible.

Now pretend I hand him the same kit, pieces in bags, instructions ready to go, but give him glasses that prevent him from seeing color, shape, and size. It isn't going to be any more possible for him to be successful!

He must have an understanding of each individual Lego, plus be able to follow directions to put it together.  Each individual Lego a fact. They have definite shape, size, and color that are vital to building anything functional. The directions are the concepts - how each piece fits in relation to the whole to make it work.

From the moment of conception, we are building foundations and walls on which to build lives. Each fact learned, each experience, creates another block with which to build those foundations and walls, but without something to hold them together and directions on how to put them together, they lie in useless piles or unstable structures which will eventually fail. Some will be lost. Others will be damaged. We can build with those bricks, but if they are not glued together with a binding agent, at some point something is going to knock it down.  The only way to maintain each brick is to integrate it into a master plan, and mortar it into place. You cannot build with only bricks. You cannot build with only directions. You cannot build with only mortar. A solid structure requires all 3 masterfully used at the same time.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  Colossians 1: 16-17 ESV

As Christians we know there is only one thing that holds everything together - God. He is the master builder who not just designed an eternal plan, but created each individual brick in that plan and holds it together in Himself.  He created each individual animal, plant, rock, person, event, and law with purpose. Pull one of those out of context, and the entire picture falls apart. Trying to look at the entire picture without understanding the elements that work together to make it leaves an impression of a work much less amazing than it is. You can memorize every fact in the picture and loose the perfection of the work itself.  Our life is a process of learning to gaze at, worship, and understand the Master Builder through his work.  

So what does this look like?  My youngest child is learning to read, beginning to write, learning about the person and work of Jesus, reading about modern history, experimenting with physics, and adding and subtracting. There are a lot of moving pieces. It would be easy to focus on memorization. Memorize a time-line, some definitions, addition facts, scripture verses, famous quotes, bits of poetry and say "We will put it all together when she is older". It would also be easy to simply read the stories, do fun experiments, pretend to be WWII soldiers, work with the math manipulatives, and hope she remembers the facts through the concepts. In a rare, Providential moment, we had it all come together this week. Some was planned by me or curriculum. Mostly it was orchestrated by God himself - but I had to be looking for the big picture. We've been studying light in science. She has had to memorize visible light, ROY G BIV. In grammar she's been memorizing Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "My Shadow". History we are looking at Ghandi and the conflicts between Hindu and Muslim Indians. In Bible, she is focusing on the teachings of Christ. My job, is to not just make sure she sees each piece, but how it all works together - not an easy task!  She is memorizing John 8: 12 where Jesus talks about being the Light of the World  The connection to science was easy! Just as the sun gives us light to live and move, Jesus lights up a world filled with darkness. He not only created ROY G BIV to provide life to earth, but he gives us life to honor and serve God.

Me - Lets work on John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life". What does that mean?

B - Jesus is our light! He saves us from the dark.
Me - Do you know why he said that?

B - No

Me - Lets look at what happens right before this verse. The Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman they caught doing something very bad. They remind Jesus that God's law demands that she be stoned to death. They ask Jesus what they should do with her. What do you think Jesus says?
B - They need to stone her. That is what God's law says.
Me - It is, but why did Jesus come.
B - To save us from sin.
Me - If Jesus stones her, is he saving her?
B - Oh - no. But how can he obey God and save her?

Me - Jesus told the Pharisees, "If any of you have never sinned, you can throw the first stone."  Was there anyone there who had never sinned?

B - No

Me - Are you sure? No one there had lived a perfect life?
Be - Oh! Jesus. So Jesus stoned her.

Me - Jesus was the only one left. He made everyone else realize they were guilty and that they deserved to be stoned too. But, even though God's law said everyone except him should be stoned, he didn't do it.

B - What?! But that is God's law.
Me - Jesus looked at that woman, and said, "You are forgiven. Go, and don't sin any more."

B - Wow! 

Me - Jesus knew he was going to pay the death penalty for her sin. So he could satisfy God's Law and save the woman. So why does he talk about being the Light of the World right after this.
B - Oh! Because he took away the woman's dark sin and gave her light instead!
Me - Yes! He also showed his light on the Pharisees sin, and showed them that they need a Savior too. Just like visible light of the rainbow shows many different things, Jesus's light shows many things. Our sins are shadows that "go in and out with me; And what can be the use of them is more than I can see" (B giggles). But Jesus is the light that chases the shadows away because he took the death we deserve. It also shows where we are making shadows and where we need to ask for forgiveness.  How do you think the woman felt? What do you think she did?

B - She was happy and went and told everyone! 

Me - I'm sure she did. You see when Jesus's light chases away our sin, it makes us so happy we need to tell others. We talked about how Muslims and Hindus fought over India and a lot of people died. Ghandi told them fighting was not the way to solve their problems and they need to just get along. They tried to divide the country, but that just made the fighting worse. Everything people tried made it worse. Instead of telling people to do good things, Jesus's light makes us do good things. His light reminds us of our own sin, so we turn away from judging others. Instead of dividing us, Jesus brings us together.

B - So why didn't someone just go to India and tell them about Jesus?  Then they would have Jesus light and stop fighting!

She ran off and was done at that point - but this Mommy's heart rejoiced after her. She got the big picture. Somewhere inside of her, every time she sees a rainbow, or a shadow, or hears the story of the woman caught in adultery, or hears reports of war, she will hear the gospel. She is beginning to see that everything from science, to history, to poetry, points to God who holds it all together. We could have only worked on memorizing facts. We could have focused on stories and concepts. But when we brought it all together it mortared together pieces of a strong foundation that by God's grace and Spirit will never be shaken.