Trying To Be Like Jesus

I am very grateful to have friends who are good examples to me of wonderful parents. I had two similar experiences this weekend where I was able to observe children applying to their lives, what they learned from their parents, about the teachings of Jesus.

The first experience came from reading my friend's blog. Rebecca Mauss wrote a beautiful entry about her three year old son's reaction to a discovery he made in their garden. Here is what she wrote in her blog.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised to see these adorable blooms stretching their petals. In excitement, I called Charlie over to my side to admire them...
"Charlie, come look at these beautiful flowers!" Charlie ran over and hovered over the little flower patch. "Did Jesus make these flowers for you?", he said in curiosity. Taken back by this profound question I responded, "He did!". Charlie immediately turned toward me and enthusiastically said, "Well that's sure nice of Jesus!".

The story really touched my heart. It reminded me that the beautiful creations in the earth come from God. What joy they bring! There is nothing better than reliving that joy through the eyes of a child. It also reminded me of the importance of teaching Nayeli about Jesus and inspired me to be more like him.

The other experience happened while we were visiting friends on Saturday. Nayeli was piecing together a giant alphabet train puzzle. She had a lot of fun placing the pieces together, and felt such a sense of accomplishment as she fit together each piece. My heart swelled. I knew how happy Nayeli was knowing that she could put together the puzzle all by herself.

When she was about a third of the way done, our friends four year old son approached Nayeli. He was done working on the United States puzzle his mother had placed out for him. I knew he wanted to play with Nayeli and help put her puzzle together. I was a little disappointed because I knew how much fun Nayeli was having putting it together herself. When the boy asked Nayeli if he could help by handing her the pieces, she responded with, "I want to do it myself!" I could tell the boy was eager to play with Nayeli, and I thought it was sweet that he wanted to help, but I did not intervene. I knew Nayeli enjoyed the sense of accomplishment by doing it herself, and I did not want to see her sad. When the boy realized Nayeli was not going to share the puzzle and let him help, he said, "Jesus wants you to share. It makes him happy when we share." When he said that I quickly called myself to repentance. I was disappointed with myself for being so selfish.

It was a great learning experience for me in many ways. One, little children can teach us so much. They are so pure and innocent and close to our Heavenly Father. Second, I was not being a very good example to Nayeli. I should have intervened and asked her to share and let the little boy play too. Third, I need to teach Nayeli more about Jesus and what it means to be like him.

I am so grateful for both of the experiences I had over the weekend. They brought me closer to the Savior. I felt inspired to do a better job of being an example to my children of how to be like Jesus, and also to teach Nayeli and Karyna more about him.