Tuesday, July 24, 2007

A Night to Remember

For one of his Faith in God requirements, our son, JJ, gave our Family Home Evening lesson tonight. He kept the topic a secret (as we read over the options in the Faith in God booklet, I left it up to him to choose). He was clearly excited to give the lesson, and prepared it completely on his own.

We sat on the couch. He asked us all to go find our scriptures, which we did. He pulled out a tray (the kind with legs that you use when you have more guests than table room), which he used as his pulpit. And he began a review of scriptures on the Holy Ghost. He asked us to share what these scriptures meant, and shared his own thoughts.

If I wasn't moved and impressed alraedy, then he did something that surprised and thrilled me. He said, "I have one other scripture to share. I wasn't planning on doing this, but...." He asked us to turn to Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30, verses he had shared just last night during family scripture study. I was impressed with his ability to lead us through these verses, asking Dad to read the first, me to read the second, and RS to read the third. He then asked us to share what we thought these verses had to do with the lesson.

And then he shared his thoughts. "I wasn't planning on sharing these scriptures. I thought, 'But I just shared them last night' (which he had; he's excited about the New Testament right now and is reading it). But I felt like I should share them. And I think that it means that we can feel the rest of the Lord through the Holy Ghost."

Of course, I can't remember his exact words, but the maturity and depth that he showed tonight was almost more than a mother of an eight-year-old could hope for. He had an impression and acted on it, even as it didn't make sense to his mind. He saw the connection between this scripture he has grown to love and the topic he had chosen tonight. And he concluded his lesson by bearing his testimony, a testimony that brought a calm to the room that was palpable.

It was definitely a night to remember!

4 comments:

sylvia/ticklethepear said...

I think that's the most important lesson I learned when I was a Sunbeam (Sunscream!) teacher: kids get it.

m_and_m said...

Sylvia,
Indeed! Maybe I should change the title of the post to "Kids Get It!" :) It's pretty awesome to get that, isn't it?

I forgot to add that as part of the lesson, he had us all look in our Index (he clarified that he wanted us to look at the one at the back of the triple combination). He then had us note how many scriptures there were ("You can even read a few if you want!") and then make the connection that the Holy Ghost is so important (because it has so many scriptures). I thought that was great.

Rosalie Erekson Stone said...

Thank you for sharing this beautiful experience on your blog, m & m. Moments like this are what give us joy as parents, and motivate us to keep going when things are tough.

m_and_m said...

RoAnn, I call moments like this tax-free pay! My favorite aspect of parenting is discovering the gospel with them and teaching them and seeing how much they really do "get it"!