Humbled By A Child

At the start of this year a paper arrived home via Bella's backpack. It was for WRE, a non-denominational Christian religious class that was offered to 3rd and 4th graders in the elementary school. Because it is a public school they cannot teach it in the school but instead bus the students over to our old middle school, now the town Rec Center. It was a permission slip to allow your child to attend this once a week class. I had mixed feelings about this. On one hand I am happy to see religion being revered and taught as openly as possible on the other I was nervous as to what they would be teaching. In the end if nothing else I thought it would be a good opportunity for Bella to hear a more broad perspective on Christianity and the Bible, and I hoped it would lead to many thought provoking conversations in our house.

It was last week as I returned home from somewhere, I can't remember now, and Bella sat at the kitchen counter talking to Travis. He had his scriptures flipped open. I could tell Bella had been asking questions. No big surprise, but I knew they must have been good ones for Travis to be searching his scriptures for references. For a while I listened and finally started to ask questions. What had the original question been? Travis and Bella quickly caught me up to speed. In WRE today they discussed the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent. They were discussing with the kids whether they thought the story was literal or figurative? And what evidence could support their opinions. Bella, now curious, had come home to inquire further about what we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints knew. Already she has grasped the concept that because of the Book of Mormon and a living prophet we have more revelation and knowledge concerning Christian Doctrine than most religions. She wanted to know if our church knew whether the story was literal or figurative.

After discussing it more and going to the scriptures, Travis and I explained to her as best we could that this story like most of the Bible is made of up literal and figurative parts and that it was a tool that Jesus Christ used while he was alive and that Heavenly Father has been using since the beginning of time to teach people. It was used to teach people only what they were ready to learn and that the same story throughout life would take on many meanings as the people reading had learned more and understood more. We illustrated it was like with math at school. You couldn't teach someone to do algebra unless you taught them addition and subtraction and other more basic principles. Well this story was written so it could teach the most basic things as well as the really hard stuff all in one story.

We then told her that the more she studied the more she would learn about the story. And that more than anything after she studied if she prayed and asked Heavenly Father that he would teach her all the details that she wanted to know. She left to get ready for bed content and I left impressed with WRE and the influence it was having. And then it got better because Travis went up to tuck Bella in for bed for the night. Bella told Travis that she had prayed about Adam and Eve and she could feel Heavenly Father very close and he was happy that she was trying to learn about him and what was in the scriptures. And he told her that he would give her the answers if she continued to pray. She also wanted to know where in the Bible she could read the story to learn more. We showed her the sections in Genesis as well as in the Pearl of Great Price.

My heart was overflowing with tender feelings for a special daughter who exercised unlimited resources of faith. She had taken the simple council and teachings of the Lord and her parents and had tested them out. And as much as we promised her Heavenly Father would answer her prayers, he did. I can't help but think of her example and how it is so simple to just do those things the Lord asks of us. I am in awe of her maturity and blessed beyond belief to have her in my life. I feel closer to knowing my Father in Heaven as I am a mother, Bella as well as all of my kids teach me daily.