After I had been teaching older students in the Christian Science Sunday School for several years, I was asked to take a class of eight-year-olds. This was quite unexpected, and I reacted negatively. I called a friend who was an experienced Christian Scientist and said rather desperately: "I've been asked to teach eight-year-olds. My teaching has been tuned to the senior class. What do I do?"
There was quite a long silence on the other end of the line. Then I heard, "If you can't explain Christian Science to an eight-year-old, you don't understand it yourself."
I was startled. I had expected kindly counsel, but that rebuke was the best advice I could have had. I turned completely to God in prayer with a "Thank you, God, for this opportunity to serve You." I'm sure I learned more from those eight-year-olds than I taught them.
