One afternoon when Elizabeth was three and Olivia was one, I
took them both to get their pictures made to commemorate their recent birthdays. As
we were driving to town Elizabeth was ‘reading’ a story to Olivia and Stacy
(Stacy the Cabbage Patch Doll went everywhere Elizabeth did). All of a sudden
she stopped, smoothed out her skirt with her little hands and said…
“You know what I’m going to do when I get to heaven?”
Without waiting for me to answer she continued, “Me and
Stacy are going to climb up on Jesus’ lap so he can read us this book.”
“That’s nice,” I said. “I bet he’ll like that.”
With that the conversation was over and Elizabeth went back
to ‘reading’ to Olivia and Stacy.
I’ll never forget the way Elizabeth made her little ‘announcement’.
She was excited, matter-of-fact and hopeful all at the same time. I’ll also
never forget that for just a split-second I thought, “No! I don’t want you to
be thinking about going to heaven yet—you’re just a baby!” As soon as that
moment had passed, however, my heart was full. I was thankful and happy to know
that even though she was only three, Elizabeth already knew what it was to have
a personal relationship with Jesus.
Now I know as parents we’re the ones who are supposed to be
doing the teaching, but in that brief amount of time Elizabeth was the one
doing the teaching. In her unassuming innocence she reminded me that Jesus is
someone to turn to rather than be afraid of and that he can be trusted to take
care of even the littlest things in life (like reading a book) as well as the
big things.
Do you let your children teach you? If you really watch and
listen you’ll learn when your children’s irritability is a way of saying they
need you or don’t feel well instead of just being naughty.
If you really watch and listen you’ll learn when their
moodiness is saying they are in trouble or stressed—not just being a
troublesome teenager.
In my thirty-three years of being a parent, this is only one
of many times my children have taught me, rather than me teaching them. As a
matter of fact, just about every time I consciously stop to watch and listen, I
still learn something from them.
As a parent you can and should be both a teacher and a
student. Are you? What will you allow your children to teach you about life
today?
Love,
Momma D
