Paul's Passing Thoughts

Editors Note:

It is a wonderful privilege for me in regard to Susan’s willingness to post here at PPT. Susan is a free thinker, loves thinking, and is known among her many former students as the teacher who always challenged them to think. Susan’s relationship with God is very personal, and at times this is very challenging for me because of my Reformed background. Though the Reformed speak of an intimate relationship with God—that is simply not true, and I still have a long way to go in shedding my distorted, impersonal view of God. So, when Susan first brought me this post, I was somewhat taken aback in regard to the suggestion that God wants things. To the Reformed mind, that is an absurd notion. Somehow, a God that has desires doesn’t want anything, and for certain, doesn’t need us for anything as well. This post challenged me to ask many interpretive questions about my view of God. And that is what PPT is all about: challenging each other with thoughts and ideas that hopefully aid us in a deeper understanding of our great God.

Paul M. Dohse

I Need My People

By Susan Deborah Dohse

Note:  The letter H is used to replace the child’s name in order to preserve privacy.

Bright-eyed, and with a smile that could melt the coldest heart, he came into my classroom holding tightly to his father’s hand. “I’m H,” he said to me in a friendly, confident voice, but his body language spoke volumes. He held on tighter to his father’s hand, and leaned into his dad’s side. H was anxious about his first day in my class.  I showed him where he could sit. He turned to look at his dad.  When Dad nodded, H sat down in our Circle Area.  “Have a good day, H.  I love you.” Dad kissed the top of his son’s head and exited the room. I assured H that his daddy would be back later to get him.

His first day in my class was truly great, and the rest of the week went amazingly well. H’s adjustment to his new school environment was phenomenal. You see, H had already been asked to leave one preschool and his parents were hoping that this school setting would be different. The weeks following revealed some aspects of his developmental delay that we all hoped would not manifest itself; those issues being physically aggressive and impulsive behaviors toward peers and adults. If H did not like someone, he would pinch, scratch, or hurt them.  On the other hand, if he really liked someone, he would get very close to them and put his face in their face.  This was very intimidating to a preschooler who had just witnessed a friend being pinched by H.  Outside play was the most difficult to monitor. H was a follower and an imitator.  The outside play area was large and the boys loved to run and chase each other. If the boys were running, H was running after them, even if he did not understand the game.

A tool we made to help H in the learning of appropriate play skills was a social story book. Over time progress was made and his negative behaviors diminished. However, there was a situation when lining up to go outside when H pushed a classmate in line, not a nudge, but a big hefty push. So H had to wait for his friends to leave and stay with me in the room for a few minutes. It was a teaching moment to again review with H the rules of friendship.  H burst into tears! I was totally taken aback. I had yet to see him cry or show remorse for any of his negative behaviors.

“I need my people!” he wailed.  He repeated that need several times with tears flowing down his face,                 “I need my people!”

It took some time, but H became calm. I took the opportunity to speak to his need as well as his friends’ needs.  He needed his people, but his people needed him to have nice touches.  He needed his people, but his people needed him to keep his hands to self.  He needed his people, but his people needed him to wait in line. H was allowed to go outside to play, happy to be with his people at last.

Over the course of the remainder of the school year, H had ups and downs in his learning of socially acceptable skills, and his parents noticed the improvements and how they carried over into other play situations at home and in the community.  “I need my people” was used many times by H to express his need to be with his friends.  I now find myself using his phrase at home when I need Philip or Paul to help me. And when I do, it reminds me of H.

Does Almighty God have needs? Not requirements as in He needs us to do something, to change something, or to go somewhere, but does God have personal needs? In Webster’s Dictionary, the word need is defined as necessity, or lack, urgent want. In both the Old and New Testaments there are references to God having an urgent want, a need. In Exodus 6:7 God needs his peopleto be relieved of their burden. In Deuteronomy 4:20 He needs His people to be redeemed. II Samuel 7:23,24: a need for His people to be a  people of inheritance. Jeremiah 13:11: a need for His people to Cling to Him. In the New Testament book of Luke 1:17, a need for His people to be prepared. In Titus 2:1, a people zealous of good works.

If God has personal needs, then as His child, am I not obligated to find ways to meet those needs?  What a concept and deep spiritual calling.  Meet the needs, the urgent wants of God.

If God has a need for me to be relieved of my burdens, how do I meet that need? By casting all of my cares upon Him, for He cares for me.

If God has a need, an urgent want for me to be redeemed, how do I meet that need? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If God has a need, an urgent want for me to be a child of inheritance, how do I meet that need? Through kingdom living.  If God has a need, an urgent want for me to be prepared, how do I meet that need? Work for the night is coming. If God has a need, an urgent want for his child to be zealous of good works, how do I meet that need?  Godly thinking and godly doing.

I will continue to search the Scriptures for other personal needs of God, and then I will search the Scriptures for the ways and means as His child to meet those needs.

How I miss H.  He has moved onto Kindergarten and will find new people to need. But that four year old taught me lessons with eternal benefits, and has given me a glimpse into some of God’s needs.

susan