My Shadow Objective: Discuss shadows and Reggie’s "shadowing" me. Explain that sometimes we don’t have a shadow and sometimes I leave Reggie at home, but Jesus is always with us. He promised us that he would be with us always and Jesus keeps his promises. Scripture: Matthew 28:19-20 I.  Introduction When I was a little girl about your age, I learned a poem by Robert Louis Stephenson call "The Shadow." Do you know what a shadow is? Well, it looks like a little paper cutout in your shape. It appears when you have a light shining on you. This is the first verse of the poem:  "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed." The last verse says: "One morning, very early, before the sun was up, I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head, Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed." The shadow had stayed at home because the sun wasn't shining. Reggie is like my shadow. He follows me all over the house. Sometimes he is asleep and I will slip downstairs to the office to do some work, but in a minute or two he comes in and lies down near me. When Reggie was a puppy, I didn’t want to leave him by himself, because he would get into the trash cans, tear up papers, or some other kind of mischief. So I put a leash on him and took him with me wherever I went to do house work, work on the computer, so on. But now, he doesn’t need the leash. He just follows me wherever I go. But sometimes, I go to the grocery, or some place where Reggie can’ t go so I leave him at home. Or if Herb and I go away overnight, we leave Reggie in a kennel. He’s with me a lot, but like the shadow in the poem, there are times when he isn’t with me. There is someone who is always with me, Jesus! Jesus lives in my heart and is always, always with me. II.   Bible Story There’s a story in Matthew 28:19-20 about Jesus and his disciples. Jesus was getting ready to go back to Heaven to be with his Father, God. Jesus didn’t want his disciples to be lonely or sad because he was leaving so he promised them that he would always be with them in their hearts – even to the end of time. Reggie is like my shadow and is with me a lot. But like a shadow there are times he isn’t with me. But we don’t ever have to worry about being alone because Jesus promised to always be with us in our hearts. Jesus is with us even when the sun isn't shining, when it is dark, or cloudy or stormy or just plain scary. With Jesus in our hearts we are never alone.   Let’s pray: Dear Jesus, we are so glad you are always with us, even in the dark of night, or when it’s cloudy or raining. We are never alone because you are with us. Thank you for that! Amen.   The Shadow by Robert Louis Stephenson Click Here (Back to top)