flannel graph Samuel

this is our cat, Holden Caulfield. although in December, he moved in with Sonny. placing Holden's photo here obviously has nothing to do with this blog.
lately, i've been reading the book of 1 Samuel (from the Bible). Samuel's mother Hannah had previously been barren, and in her prayers, asked God to give her a child; and she had promised God that she would give that child back to Him. after Samuel was born and she had weaned him, Hannah took him to the temple to live with Eli the priest. and so thats where Samuel grew up. being a mom, my mind barely comprehends that - taking my child to live somewhere else? ... another thing that stands out right in the beginning of the book, in Chapter 3, was when Samuel, as a boy, was awakened by the voice of God calling him. He thought though that it was Eli calling him and so would run to Eli's room. That happened 3 times, with Eli telling him each time to go back to sleep. Eli realized the 4th time that it was God's voice that Samuel was hearing. at this point, what comes to my mind are the Sunday School flannel graphs that 'aid' in telling the story. I remember when i was a new Christian and i was helping out in the Sunday School of my Church, i was taken aback by the flannel graphs and various other teaching aids, that I couldn't help but view as attempts to 'dumb down' God's Word. i think that we insult the intelligence of our listeners when we attempt to make Bible world an easy place to have lived. no matter how young the listeners are. in fact, what stood out the most for me at that time while i was moving flannel graph Samuel along in flannel graph bible-story world, was the fact that samuel had recieved a vision from God - a vision that he was afraid to tell Eli. and which happened to have been omitted from that very lesson. so instead, the sunday school kids came away with only part of the story. they had been 'spared' from the truth. ...