A Perfect Morning
Autumn has come too quickly to our mountain valley. I had hoped for a long Indian Summer, but the cold descended soon after school began. On the first sunny morning after several cloudy days, I put jackets on my preschoolers and we went for a walk. Our destination was the gravel pit at the end of the road. There was still water in some of the pits and, naturally, it is full of rocks. Rocks and water, they are the ultimate playthings.
We sat on rocky slopes, under a deep blue sky and threw rocks in the water. Unable to sit for too long, Peter searched close by for skipping rocks for me to throw. We explored all the places that had been covered with water during the summer and wondered at the patterns left by the dried up water plants. Peter found salamander eggs and at one point we watched a fuzzy caterpillar inch quickly across the rocks. It looked prickly and Peter said so. “No,” I told him, “It is really soft.” I gently touched its “prickles” and he tried it too. He was surprised and delighted. We climbed rocky hills and noticed patches of willows that had grown up near the waters edge. We talked about the birds, pointed to flitting butterflies and I answered question after question. It was the perfect morning.
Days with my two youngest have been filled with these child-like moments. We play with the kittens, laugh at silly stories, and eat peas and carrots straight out of the garden. We play Ring-Around-the-Rosies and they wonder why I don’t fall down all the time. “It’s so much farther for me to get up,” I tell them. That answer never satisfies them and they insist that I must fall down too. They will help me up, little hands tugging with all their might. These moments remind me of why I am grateful to still have little ones in my life.
Being Like a Child
Being with little children gives me a chance to be engaged in the wonder of the world all over again. Little children dance and sing when they are struck with the notion. Life is a musical for them. I get to be part of the cast when I am with them. The songs in my head slip out in a hum and before long I’ve scooped little Emma up in my arms and we are waltzing across the floor. No one wonders if I’m crazy, because I’m with a child, the star of the show. When we play, wonder and laugh I get to be like them for just a little while.
Being like little children is not just a nice, sentimental thought, but something we should all be intent on accomplishing. Especially considering that the Savior commanded us to “repent and become as a little child.” There are so many things I would like to emulate from my children’s examples. I love their sweetness and their uncontrived delight with the world around them. I love their confidence in themselves and their sense that they are lovable exactly as they are. I love their simple faith and willingness to believe. If I could incorporate these things in my life I would be well on my way to being like them.
Still, even with these things I wouldn’t have reached the essence of what it means to be like a child. Mormon writes that little children are “whole”, “alive in Christ,” and “partakers of salvation (Moroni 8:8,12,17).” Modern revelation tells us that they are “innocent before God (Doctrine and Covenants 93:38).” It reminds us that “little children are holy being sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ (Doctrine and Covenants 74:7).” So this is what it means to be like them. It isn’t so much what they do, but what they are.
Without even trying our little ones are perfect in the eyes of their Heavenly Father. They are innocent, alive and whole. No wonder they are so precious. What an important thing to remember when they have pushed all our buttons and taken our patience to the limit. They are not the ones being tested in this moment, we are.
Putting Little Feet Firmly on the Path Home
Along the way, however, these little ones will become accountable for their actions and that is why the work and play we do with them each day is so important. That is why our rejoicing, talking and and preaching of Christ is so vital. They will need to know “what source they may look to for a remission of their sins (2 Nephi 25:26).
” They will need know that once again they can be “made alive in Christ because of (their) faith (2 Nephi 25:25).”
My children’s simple faith and willingness to believe is a gift in these early years. It is while they are tiny that I begin to build a foundation that will support them all their lives. President Eyring reminds us that “Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home (Ensign, May 2010, p.23).”
So today as we look at the wonders of the world around us I’ll remind my babies that Jesus Christ created them for us. I will help them recognize His love for them through the beauties of this world. When little Emma asks to say the prayer and then looks up and grins after she says “amen” I will smile and give her a squeeze so she will know that what she has done is right and good. When Peter looks at me with his big brown eyes and apologizes for making his little sister scream I will take him in my arms and tell him how precious he is and how Jesus Christ makes it possible for us to try and try again. Today we will learn together. They will look to me for an example of what it means be a follower of Christ. I will look to them to teach me about being innocent, alive and whole and maybe today I can be a little bit more like a child.
Kimberli Pelo Robison is a a wife and a mother to six children. She has a degree in Family and Human Development from Utah State University.
