12-year-old TED speaker!

Take a look at the above interview of Adora Svitak. She is twelve years old and was a speaker at TED 2010! Wow! She is an accomplished author and speaker.

I loved that she challenges adults to learn from children. I think we can do that about education and about spirituality as well. I think so many times we can get so caught up in teaching children that we forget that God can use them to teach us as well.

I remember one time with the Kindergarten class I am currently leading, as we were praying one of the children spontaneously started thanking God for various things like her house and her parents. I was about to correct her for interrupting my prayer when I almost audibly heard God tell me to shut up… no joke. God used this little 5-year-old to teach me that spontaneous praise and thanks is an important part of prayer. Since then, I’ve tried to allow for that time with the kids. It’s been one of my favorite times!

How about you? What has God taught your through children? What are ways that we can continue to be open to learn from children?

On a side note… my wife and I are loving reading ChildFaith by Don and Brenda Ratcliff. In addition to teaching parents how to pass on faith to children, it also teaches parents how to learn faith from their children. We’ll be posting a joint review on the book soon!