"Those mean guys put Jesus on the cross
and he died, but then he came back
because he has the power of God!"
This theatrically and spontaneously spiued out of my 4 year old"s mouth last night during devotion time. Josh and i looked at each other and grinned in shock. Our number one goal for Scott during devotions is just to be still. For him to actually listen is icing on the cake. And night after night we deal with the wiggling, the interrupting, the restlessness of a just turned 4 year old during bible time.
Today Ryan brought home a library book and instead of asking me to read it, dove in and started trying to make out words himself. After a slow start, he had several pages underway.
Both of these moments reminded me today of something that I remember encouraging myself with years ago. Super cliche and silly, but this is what I remember saying to myself:
"A little a day goes a long long way."
I began saying this to myself when Ryan turned 3 and I started sitting down with him for 10 minute blocks of time to do phonics. We only spent a very small amount of time working on letters daily, but over the coarse of 3 years, he can now read.
As wiggly and frustrating as it is to have devotions with a 2 or 3 year old, that time, knowledge, and training adds up and Josh and I received just a little fruit from that last night. The Gospel according to a 4 year old.
The goals and progress you make with your children or students might be so slow going that in the moment you see only frustration and little fruit. The fruit will come if we continue in the good work that has been started. Continue to press on one seed at a time. The harvest will come in due time and the fruit of it will be an overwhelming joy!
