Love Lessons With Keso

So, I'd love to post a picture of Keso so you can put a face with the name, but he hates taking pictures. Anywho, during school we have a 30 minute session called "Community Circle." The goal of the class is to build community with a small group of students and provide a platform for students to express themselves and encourage each other. So typically we read a Bible verse together and I explain what it means. There are questions the students are asked and then they are given ten minutes to write or draw their response. Afterwards, they sit in a group and share what they wrote. I have a group of 12 of all our little kids. This can be quite the challenge because they are all just coming in from recess, are really hyper, and usually cannot focus.

So our topic this day was as follows:
Keso decided in the middle of this Community Circle time to lay in the middle of the floor and yell random things at the top of his lungs. I gave him five seconds to get to his seat and quiet down, or he had to write sentences as a consequence. He made it there when I got to zero, but then he decided to keep falling off his seat and delay obeying. I started to write down the sentence, "I will obey quickly." I wrote down 1-10 for him to copy underneath, which led to Keso having a meltdown and being really disrespectful. Instead of letting him throw a fit in front of everybody, I decided to take him outside. I said very calmly, "Look, I love you and I don't want to make you write sentences. But, when I ask you to do something, I'm serious and I expect you to do it right away. We're learning about how to love each other better, the way God wants us to love each other. When we love each other, we're not rude and we respect each other. It's not easy, but lets try to love each other and make it a better day. Can we do that?" In the back of my mind I was thinking, am I really just wasting my breath? I don't think he's really going to understand. But he nodded his head, signaling that he understood and wanted to do better. So I said, "Okay, I cannot let you back into class until you apologize though." So with a bit of a sad and pouty voice he said, "I'm sorry." I asked, "For what?" "For not obeying." I told him I forgave him and that he wouldn't have to write sentences.

However, when we went back to class, he immediately went to his notebook to write his sentences. I repeated, "I told you you didn't have to do that." He just kept writing. This is what I found written the next day.
For those of you who know Keso, if you made him write sentences, he would hate you for the next few days. He would hold onto grudges for soooo long. Three weeks ago when I had him write sentences he told me over and over, "You are not my friend. You made me write sentences. Do not talk to me." So, for him to write these on his own, to keep remembering the importance of love, and learning not to keep a record of wrongs (well, I never did anything wrong but in his eyes it was wrong) it was a sweet moment. God is good.