Sprout, my heart-born six year old daughter, came to stand next to my reading chair as I sought to enter my oblivious bubble while the post-dinner mayhem roared around me.
"Why do people sin?" she asked. "I mean, like Adam and Eve? If I was them I would have just said 'no' to the snake."
I looked into her eyes and said "we all think we would say no, but the truth is that Satan looks for a place in our heart where we are thin, and vulnerable, and he tries to poke us there, and trick us. He tricked Eve by poking at a place where she was thin, and he got her to wonder if God was really good, and if God really cared about her."
Without pausing to think she said "so when I feel like I am not good at anything, and I'm a bad person, that is Satan poking me and trying to trick me?"
How can I describe the joy in that moment where my child saw her struggle for what it is? For months we have been working with Sprout as she cries at night, inconsolable that she can't write as neatly as another girl in her class, or run as fast as she imagines she used to, or leap as far as a girl in ballet...and all these perceived failures snowball into "I'm not good at anything. I'm a bad person."
I beamed at her and said "Sprout, this is a big moment, because you just figured it out for yourself!"
She reached down and motioned over her heart and said "there, now that I know, I just fixed the thin place and I don't have to worry about that anymore!"
Five minutes later she was doing her impression of The Muppets and we were in stitches as she repeated "Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh..." before taking a bow.
It is so amazing to see God working in my children's lives. I can't even describe.
That's what Easter is all about.
I retrieve myself a lot in the first part of your story. I grow up in a religious and traditional family and I was familiarized even since my first years with biblical stories. I remember how in my childhood I used to transpose into characters, thinking how well I would reacted if I were Adam, Eve or the old Israel nation. Glad to read your doughter beautiful conclusions. Happy Easter!
Posted by: adoption trends | 29 March 2013 at 08:22 PM
Thank you for sharing this! brought happy tears to my eyes!
Posted by: Doke | 06 April 2013 at 09:02 AM