Lessons from a 7-year old . . .

On Thursday, Alicia, mom, grandma and I drove to Saskatoon to spend some time with Dave, Barb and the boys. We ate some good food, had a nice visit, got to go boating on Blackstrap and I was one of the first people to see the newly completed comic book that Jesse made. He read the whole thing to me - it was pretty great!

My favourite moment was on Thursday, when Alicia and I went for a bike ride with the three boys. As we were heading back to the house, biking on a path along the river, I came upon Jesse, who was biking nice and slow. He says to me, "Sometimes it is just so beautiful to look at - I just like to look at nature." I agreed with him. He told me that I could go on ahead of him, and that he would be alright since he knew the way home, but I thought that I would take the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the scenery with him. He then goes on to start talking about rocks and geodes, and how the preacher at the church at Victoria Beach gave a sermon on geodes. Intrigued and impressed with his memory, I asked more questions. He went on to tell me what the whole lesson was (I think that it must have been the children's sermon for it to have stuck with him so well). The gist of the lesson is this: sometimes people don't look that good on the outside (I think snotty and dirty were the words that he used), but we need to look at the inside, the heart, just like God does. Just like a geode, which is ugly on the outside, but when you crack it open, you see that it is really beautiful.

After this, he goes on to say that he really isn't very good at doing it though. That he mostly looks at the outside of the person. But he is trying to be better at looking at the inside of people, and remembering that everyone is beautiful.

I was blown away by his honesty. It is a hard thing for me to admit that I'm wrong or not very good at doing something. I'm too proud, too unwilling to make myself vulnerable. Yet, here was a 7-year old, openly talking about something that he needs to work on.

The conversation soon switched - I think we were soon playing a game as we continued on our way home. But I was thankful to have shared those moments with Jesse, and to have him teach me a lesson or two.

Jesse, thanks for helping me to slow down and enjoy life, to remember to look at people's hearts instead of their appearances, and to be honest with myself and others about things that I may struggle with.