You know, I am absolutely amazed at a child's spirit. They understand far more then we think they do. Of course, if your little one is anything like my Emma, they are as coy and cunning and intuitive as they can be...all despite their young ages.
My child's connection to God Almighty, her faith even, it astounds me.
"He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." ~Matthew 18:2-4
Just after Christmas I started reading to Emma from The Jesus Storybook Bible at bedtime. It is beautifully illustrated and is so poetic and lovely in how it presents the story of Jesus throughout all of Scripture. I myself have been moved to tears as I've read; it has so touched my heart. My goal was in sharing the Word with Emma through this nightly routine. It's never too early to teach Jesus to your kids. But through this process, God has spoken volumes to my heart about His love and His mercy. It really is a beautiful thing.
What's beautiful most of all is, in all of my daughter's innocence and her mere two years in this world....I really think she gets it.
There is a picture of Jesus on front of the Bible (and of course throughout it as well). One night as we were settling in our rocking chair to read, I picked up the book off her night stand and pointed to the picture on the front cover. "Who's that?" I asked. "Is it Jesus?" Emma looked up at me and smiled and said, "Jesus".
Talk about blessing my heart.
I was about to turn to the story we left off with when Emma looked up at me again and then said, "Daddy." I thought she wanted to pray for her daddy because that's what we do after we read; we pray for all our family and friends. So I asked her if she wanted to pray for her daddy.
What happened next took my breath away.
She closed the book in my hands and pointed to Christ's picture on the front and said, "Daddy Jesus".
We read the story of John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus that night. This was John's song...adapted from Scripture (Matthew 3, Luke 1&3 and John 1).
Because God loves us with a Never Stopping,
Never Giving Up, Unbreaking,
Always and Forever Love-
Heaven is breaking through!
He is sending us a Light from Heaven
To shine on us like the sun
To shine on those who live in darkness
And in the shadow of death
To guide our feet into the way of peace
That's the love of God.
He is our Daddy, our Abba Father.
And my girl gets it.
(I'm sharing this as part of the Mom's 30-minute Blog Challenge @ SteadyMom. Check it out!)
Blessings,
6 comments:
We received this book for our older daughter, and I think it is my favorite book in the whole house. It's written so beautifully-- it makes me laugh, cry, understand things in new ways. My daughter is just barely old enough to start to understand the stories, but I hope that she loves them as much as I do some day.
www.simplelifemusings.blogspot.com
Brian bought this book as a Baptism gift for Kameron this past weekend and he picked one up for Zachary too. We have been reading a story every night before we go to bed. I am amazed at how much Zachary asks questions, remembers and talks about his Jesus Bible. I am loving it too. I did not expect the words to be written with such passion. It touches my heart too. Our kids are amazing!
You know, I think parenting has taught me way more about my Savior than any other thing in my life.
Through the eyes of a child, huh?
That's awesome Kelli! We've had this book for a couple of years now and the girls and I LOVE it! If you didn't know, they have a website where you can watch a "video" each week of one of the stories from the book. I want to get the new audio version so badly!!
Hay 30 minute mom, don't we learn so much from our kids and the awesomeness they carry inside their little selves!!!
I LOVE that book too. My kids love reading from it as well. A great story/Bible book!
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