Blessed Are They That Mourn

     Last night in AWANA, I was teaching on the Beatitutde "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." I was trying so hard to describe what the word "mourn" meant, when I finally realized, that there is no good synonym for it. I was trying to tell them that mourning came from deep within your soul. When discussing sin and things that we know we have done wrong, we were talking about how we should be in mourning for our own inadequacy. How often do I fall on my knees and weep because of my sin? How often do I stop and acknowledge that I can't fix my own problem, only God can. I got so excited last night trying to explain to those boys and girls that God was the only one. We talked about how Jesus had never sinned and that's why He was the only one who could take our sins on the cross. Then we started talking about why Christ's resurrection was so important. I feel like we don't emphasize this enough with children, because we think it's too deep for them to understand, but they need to know why it's important that Christ raised from the dead and ultimately defeated sin and death. The next step in the teaching was to explain to them why Jesus said that people who are mourning their sin are blessed. I love the picture that presented. We come to the end of ourselves, then Jesus can step in and comfort us. It's so beautiful, and I am so thankful for what He did for me!