Teaching the Little Ones

I'm grateful today for visiting teachers who teach by the Spirit. When they shared the monthly message with me and encouraged me to read scriptures and pray with my 16 month old and teach her the Gospel, I wasn't sure she was old enough to understand. We talked about the teachings that children are never too young to feel the Spirit and learn of Christ's love for them.

I kept it in the back of my mind but was a little lazy in changing my before-bed routine. Adding scripture and prayers with a 16 month old seemed like it would be adding quite a bit of time to the process, and I still wasn't convinced it was going to work.

One of the main reasons I procrastinated was that I didn't know how to go about it. I know it sounds silly, but something so simple seemed mysterious to me. I have seen families pray with their children, but they kids were always older (at least some of them), and I have experience teaching children 3 years old and up. I felt unprepared. How would I begin? How would I keep her in one place?

Well, I finally decided to just start a new routine. I consoled myself by thinking that at least she is too little to remember if I am awkward and don't know what I am doing. After bath and p.j. time, we headed to her room with scriptures in hand. I don't have any of the cutesy-fruitsy books with kid-friendly Book of Mormon stories and pictures of Jesus like the super-moms at church. (Note to self: You need to get more cutesy-fruitsy stuff!--But first you gotta figure out where in the world they get it from!)

I thought a picture of Christ would help a little, so I grabbed a missionary pamphlet about the restoration with a portrait of Christ on it. (I felt ill prepared. Can it be that I don't have a picture of Christ for my daughter? Ugh!) We sat in the floor of her room, and I sat her in my lap. I opened the scriptures to a random verse and just read it. I don't even remember which one it was. I didn't know what to do after that. What should I say? I knocked on strangers' doors for a year and a half for goodness sakes! I got chased away from people's houses. What is so scary about teaching a little baby? Why is this so hard?

 As I searched my heart, I decided that the most important message that anyone could hear is the love that Christ has for them. So I told her that Jesus loves her so much He sent her to me and her daddy to take care of her and teach her about Him. That's about all her attention span could take. Then I folded her arms and "we" said a very short prayer. We thanked Heavenly Father for each family member and for Christ's love. Amen.

She was wiggly. She was distracted. I don't know how to talk about the Gospel with a toddler. I felt inadequate  and clumsy, but I knew it was what I was supposed to do, so we kept it up.

Two short weeks later...

After bath and pajamas, I sit in her floor and she crawls into my lap. I choose one verse that's highlighted in my scriptures. She points to the pages as I read. I turn her around and tell her that Heavenly Father loves her so much he gave her eyes to see, ears to hear, nose, mouth, etc. We point to each one as we say them and giggle. I tell her that Jesus loves her so much He sent her to me to love and teach. She is quiet. She looks into my eyes as I speak. I ask her if she wants to pray, and she nods. She sits down and folds her arms. When we are done, the sweetest word falls from her lips--"amen".

I was crying as I closed her door, and I guess I gained the beginning of a testimony of the importance of teaching our little ones. After only two short weeks he looks forward to what has become my most special moments of the day. I know she won't remember this night. She's too young. But her spirit isn't. That's what I learned tonight. I have no idea how much our spirits remember, but I got a glimpse tonight of our eternal nature. She wasn't a little baby who doesn't understand what I'm reading. She was a daughter of God who learned of Him long before she was entrusted to my care, and I am blessed at this time with a knowledge of the Gospel and of the Lord's love for her. She may not understand all my words, but she can truly feel the love of the Lord and the peace the Spirit brings.

I thought I wouldn't be good at raising children in the restored Gospel because I didn't grow up with that myself. It's scary. I feel like a pioneer of sorts...like I'm making it up as I go along. It's a new kind of anxiety for me, but I was reminded tonight that I'm not ever truly alone. Even if the delivery of the message is clumsy, it's the Spirit who teaches, and I know with certainty that the Spirit was teaching both of us tonight.

I'm grateful for visiting teachers who listen to the Spirit, and I'm grateful that I listened to them. I've got a long way to go, but it's all about the baby steps.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

He Lives: Testimonies of Jesus Christ

I love this video. As we strive to be in the world but not of the world, we can withstand all the trials, tribulations and temptations. We can fight the good fight with peace and strength when we can declare with conviction, "I know my redeemer lives." I am grateful for this knowledge and the blessings it brings.




"I Know That My Redeemer Lives" Hymn online

Drive Thru Racism--Would you like fries with that?

My husband and I decided to go on a family date for some good Mexican food. Unfortunately, our one-year-old hasn't developed a taste for it yet, so like the good parents we are, we decided to get her some healthy food before we arrived at the restaurant--McDonald's. Nothing like a a good Mickey D's cheeseburger and some apple slices for dinner.

We pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center in Manassas that houses the McDonald's. It's an awkward setup. You have to drive through the "road" of the parking lot and turn left into the drive thru. There isn't a long lane, so if there are cars there, you will have to wait with your blinker on. Well, as we approached and began to turn left out of the "road" into the drive thru lane, a woman who was driving behind us decided to hit the gas and pass us to get in the drive thru lane. If my husband hadn't been so quick on the brakes, we would have collided.

Remember as I tell you this story, that we are halfway through a left turn and are now blocking the main road through the parking lot.

She backs up away from the speaker to stop beside us, rolls down the window, and says, "I'm sorry. I didn't see you!" Here is the basic conversation that followed:

My husband:  "REALLY?? You didn't SEE us?
Lady: "What wrong with YOU?"
My husband: "What's wrong with me? You almost hit us!"
Lady: "I SAID I was SORRY!"

(A car pulls up behind us at this point...remember we are both blocking traffic now.)

My husband: "Just go! [pointing to the drive thru speaker]
Lady: "You don't talk to ME like that! I know you don't talk to your wife like that!"
My husband: "Look, you almost hit us trying to get in the drive thru. If you are going to get something to eat, just GO please!"
Lady: "You don't talk to me like that! This is not a white man's world anymore!" [Driving away and up to the speaker] We have a BLACK president now!"

That came out of left field. We sat there in stunned silence, looked at each other, and both asked, "Did she really just say that?" Slowly we pulled into the drive thru lane to be considerate of the person who had to sit there during our little exchange. I experienced a wide range of emotions all at once. Anger. Fury. Disbelief. Shock. Confusion. Frustration. Pity.


The irony of it is that I never even ONCE in the "discussion" consciously registered that she was a black woman. At least, I assume she is black. Living around here, you can't really judge someone's ethnicity by their skin color. However, it was obvious that the first thing she noticed about us was that we were white. And I am the racist? The only prejudice I extended to her was that against crappy drivers (which are abundant around here).

My inner redneck wanted to get out of the car, walk up to her car and really let her know what I think. I wanted to tell her that I don't see people's color. That I chose my profession of an ESOL teacher (and teacher in general) because I love people of all cultures, and one of my greatest joys in my job is learning about students' heritage. I wanted to call her out on her obvious racism towards me when I never threw any at her. What did the President have to do with the fact that she can't drive? Why in the world did you BACK UP and block traffic anyway?  I wanted to rage and rage about the injustice of her statements.

But I didn't.

That's redneck in me....not the me who is trying to put off the natural man and follow Christ.

I remembered that we should pray for those who hurt us. I considered praying that she would choke on her burger...but then I guess that's not exactly what praying for your enemies means.

So I swallowed my outrage (and nearly choked) and really prayed for her. I prayed for me that I wouldn't be so quick to anger--that I would teach my daughter by my example to love my enemy--even though I didn't choose to be enemies. She chose ME as HER enemy. I prayed that she could stop judging people by the color of their skin and instead judge them by the content of their character.

I thought of Christ. I thought of how he endured unimaginable injustices at his enemies' hands. Yet amidst the greatest torture that any man has ever endured, he prayed for his enemies. He extended love to them to the very end of his mortal ministry and will continue to do so throughout eternity. If he set this example, how can I harbor anger in my heart for a stranger in a drive thru?

I worked all of this out in my mind and heart as we drove to the restaurant. Eventually I felt a sense of peace replace the anger and frustration. To forgive truly is sublime.

Then, with a sly smile, I turned to my husband and said, "You know, she was talking to you, not me. It never has been a woman's world!" We both had a good laugh at that and decided to put the anger behind us and enjoy our time together.

The LDS Church is Combating Pornography

Combating Pornography

I am so glad that the church has put together this resource. Satan is so subtle and so powerful. He has really been attacking people through the temptation of pornography. It brings such heartache to people's lives and destroys families. I hope people who are struggling with pornography and their families will turn to this resource as a support and a starting point for help.