Nearly twenty years ago Billie and I overheard our youngest daughter Mikaela, then only 2 ½, call her brother Dean Jr. an Idiot! We looked at each other shocked. Where had she learned that word? It was not in either of our vocabularies and so it was a mystery to us. For several days, whenever Mikaela was searching for her brother, she repeated the phrase, “Deanie, you idiot.” Of course we corrected her each time letting her know that idiot wasn’t a very nice word.
Several weeks passed and we remained baffled. We had no idea where she could’ve picked up that word. Billie was over at a friends house scrap-booking, while Mikaela was in the adjoining room watching the Disney classic 101 Dalmatians. She loved that animated feature, mostly because of the puppies. Billie had listened in on the movie many times. Often while she was busy doing what needed to be done around the house Mikaela would plop down in the family room and watch the ‘Dalmatian movie’.
And there it was, Cruella De' ville scolding her two flunky accomplices, “Jasper! Horace! You idiots!”
Mystery solved.
Anyone who has been around children knows that they can be like little sponges, absorbing bits and pieces of everything they hear. The problem is they often don’t get the context, vocabulary or pronunciation correct.
Art Linkletter recognized this and had a regular segment in his show, which aired five days a week from 1945 to 1969, titled ‘Children say the darndest things’. In it he interviewed children on a variety of subjects. On one occasion while casually speaking with a boy, of course the cameras were rolling, the boy matter-o-factly said, “My father was rich until he married my mom.” Kind of makes you wonder what his dad may have really said, and in what context. Nevertheless, his candid observation was received by clapping and hysterical laughter from the studio audience.
Not too long ago, Billie and I were sitting in the reception area of the Chiropractic office of our friend, Dr. Raymond Wright. On the adjacent couch there was another patient there waiting with her two granddaughters. The little girls looked to be about 5 and 7 years of age. On an end table, between the two couches, were two black leather bound books. The Bible and The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
The younger girl picked up the Bible and her grandmother hastily scolded her, “Put that down!”
The little girl hesitated. I could see she was startled by the tone of her grandmother’s voice.
“Put that down!” Her grandmother repeated. “It will burn your hands.”
With that admonishment she immediately set the book back on the table. Her sister, the seven year old, who had been listening carefully, deliberately walked over to the table and picked up the Bible with both hands. Whether she was curious or only wanted to see her grandmother’s reaction was unclear. But as expected her grandmother immediately admonished her with the same warning, “put that down! It will burn your hands.”
The little girl held the Bible in one hand while she carefully examined her other hand. She looked up at her grandmother. “It didn’t burn my hand.”
“It will if you don’t put it down this instant,” she repeated sternly.
Instead of putting the Bible down she walked towards her grandmother holding it out in front of her. “Will you read it to me?”
The little girls had discovered for themselves that this sacred book of scripture wouldn’t harm them. Now what? The grandmother rolled her eyes. She had to think quickly. “You won’t like it,” she reasoned. “There aren’t any pictures.”
Undeterred the little girl continued to hold out the Bible.
“It’s too hard to understand.” The grandmother said as she shook her head and looked away. She muttered under her breath, pretending she didn’t want what she was going to say next to be heard by all. “Besides,” she muttered sounding tired, as if worn thin by the constant rubbing of memories that were unresolved and unforgiven, “it would burn your mother’s hands.”
One can only imagine the rest of the story and why this woman felt so negatively about the words of God. What heartache had her daughter’s life or choices inflicted upon her? God only knows. But whatever those choices were, good or bad, they had blessed her with two precious granddaughters. Now she was deterring them from the best source of hope anyone could ever wish for. And the peace and happiness that can come only through a relationship with God.
The little girl replaced the Bible next to the Book of Mormon. What she did next seemed almost reverent to me. She carefully aligned the books next to each other, so they looked natural, like that’s the way they were intended to be, the way God intended them to be.
She turned back to her grandmother and asked, “why do only grown ups get to read it?”
There was no reply. The woman’s face was not harsh or angry, only tired. She stared out of the window in silence.
There is no way to know what those two girls will remember of that moment. But they learned one thing for sure, and they discovered it quite innocently, the words of God will not burn them. Children are fireproof and regardless of the sins of their parents or grandparents, they are pure in the eyes of the Lord.
There are some who fail to take advantage of the opportunity to teach their children when they are young. After all they reason, there will always be tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year. Fortunately for many this may be true, but sadly for others the real opportunities become fewer and fewer and farther and farther between. The prime time for teaching our children is fleeting.
“Teaching moments have a limited shelf life, they are to be used in the hour they are allotted, they are perishable.”
The parent or grandparent who neglects or leaves for another day their responsibility as a teacher may, in years to come, gain bitter insight into Whittier’s observation: “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’
“The newborn child is almost an exact duplicate of an empty computer, although superior to such a computer in almost every way. … What is placed in the child’s brain during the first eight years of his life is probably there to stay. If you put misinformation into his brain during this period, it is extremely difficult to erase it. ”
Contrast that experience with what I witnessed the following Sunday. Spoiler Alert! This next story is on the opposite end of the spectrum.
During the most reverent time of the meeting, when the emblems of the sacrament were being offered to the congregation, I observed a little girl in the pew in front of us. She was standing on the seat looking back and smiling. Her mother was patiently trying to get her to turn around and sit down. “What would Jesus do?” she whispered.
The little girl continued smiling broadly. She shrugged her shoulders and innocently replied, "I don't know."
The mother leaned in close and gently placed her hand on her daughter’s back. "He would turn around and fold His arms,” she explained tenderly. “Do you want to do that?”
The little girl tipped her head to the side like her mother’s voice was tickling her ear. “Nope.” She replied, without interrupting her gaze. It was apparent she was focused on something else.
“Why? What are you doing?”
The little girl raised her dimply hand and responded pointing with a twinkle in her eyes, “Smiling at her.”
For the first time the young mother noticed her daughter was smiling at someone several pews back. Someone who was sitting all alone and couldn’t help but have her day brightened by this little angel. The elderly woman smiled in return.
For children, doing what Jesus would do comes naturally. It comes from within, and radiates in their innocence. Whether it’s smiling at someone who needs to be cheered or desiring to learn about Him, they come into this mortal existence already knowing what Jesus would do.
The choice is ours, do we nullify, neglect or nurture their natural desire to follow the Light of Christ.