The other night, after watching a weekend of conference and in the attitude of pondering on the spiritual feast of the hours of instruction and encouragement from men of God (and women too), I retired to my bed to find this note on my pillow. Much to my initial dismay-it actually was a sweet and welcome note...
You see, Madi takes part in a church program called "Achievement Days" now that she is of age 8. In this program she is working to earn an honor called 'Faith in God' and in order to earn this honor she must keep track of goals set and reached in a pamphlet called "Faith in God". She lost the pamphlet. This is not the first time the pamphlet has been misplaced, and Madi knows that her mom is a real stickler on putting things "in their place" so they are available to us when we need them. As she had not done that, she was apologizing. And asking for help. Thus the note.
But think about it; how many of our children do need help in developing "Faith in God"? All of them. Even though I believe they come filled to the brim with the love of Christ inside them, they need direction to learn how to find God in this world, how to leave the cares of this world in their proper place and follow Christ with a measure of Faith. Usually, it is mothers (with necessary and important help and nurturing from Fathers too) who lead their children in a development of faith.
Sure Madi, I'll help you find your Faith in God. I'll teach you how to pray, I'll help you serve your neighbor, and when you lose your stuff I'll try to be patient and kind so you'll know I'm trying to follow Him in whose faith you will have peace and joy in this world. I'll try and teach you a little about your Heavenly Father every day and I'll work hard in the things I'm asked to do to serve Him so you can see I love Him with all my heart and that my faith in Him is sure and strong. Then you can follow me for a while, and hopefully I'll lead you to Him; and soon you'll realize (because moms make lots of mistakes) that all the good stuff that came from me was really only because of the love I have for Him. Then you'll want to follow Him too, and in the following your faith will grow brighter and brighter, until that perfect day.
with pleasure and joy I will help you Madi. Love, Mom.
7 comments:
Thank you Katie beautifully said!
I must admit, I was alarmed by this at first.
Thank you for this sweet message.
Since we are admonished to have faith like a child, maybe it isn't our job to help them develop faith. Maybe it is our job to help them keep the faith they came to us with, despite all the nastiness and ugliness that they will see and perhaps experience in this world. It is so easy for a child to believe the promises of the Gospel, it is adults that question them. Maybe we have faith and loose it as we grow more critical and cynical. Perhaps the best thing is to help a child to protect their faith while still learning the other important things we are here to learn. I don't know. Just thinking out loud here but maybe all of those wonderfull things you are doing and will do, just protect the faith that is already there. Then because you helped them protect it you can help them add to their faith knowledge and then temperance etc. What do you think?
Tyler speaks well-I think you are on track Ty. This little note is a perfect example; Madi never in a million years would infer that her faith is gone; its a given, she has it. She could no more deny it than say that there is no wind-but she could lose it, and it could dwindle or stagnate. Just as you say, perhaps it is our responsibility to help her recognize it, exercise it and see it grow. Great insight, thanks for your comment.
At first I thought she didn't believe in God anymore...then I realized the true message! Great post.
When I read that note my heart sank! Scare me to death katie! Very sweet post. It was nice to hear from tyler-miss you! Madi is so sweet give her an extra hug for me. :)
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