Prayerful Penelope

About a month ago Penelope started folding her arms during prayer time. We tried teaching her by sitting her beside us and then saying the word prayer. We'd then take her arms and fold them for her and proceed to bow our heads and begin our prayer. Every once in a while we'd sneak peeks at her to see what she was doing. Most of the time she'd crawl away or start playing with toys, loudly talking or cooing. We were fine with this; we never intended to make her sit still or quietly during the prayer, the only thing we wanted to teach her was to recognize what prayer is.

Slowly we were noticing small changes. Instead of crawling away, she'd stay in one spot. Instead of talking loudly she become quiet. Then she'd hold her arms folded just a little bit longer. Everyday wasn't perfect, but her behavior more often than not was becoming more and more reverent.

 Just a few days ago whenever I even mention the word prayer she immediately folds her arms. I was surprised by how much she understands and how frequently she listens to what I say. And then today at church, every time there was a prayer she'd hold her arms that way for like 20 seconds. Jesse got this idea to whisper prayer in her ear and immediately she'd go right back to folding her arms. I was so amazed! How is it our little 10 month old already understand the concept of prayer??

I can ask Penelope where Jesus is and she will easily point to a picture of him. Sometimes I can actually get her to say His name. And now this girl can fold her arms for prayer!

The crazy part of it all is that neither Jesse and I were adamantly teaching her these concepts. We'd show her pictures of Christ, we'd fold her arms for her like I said, we speak of His name, but it wasn't something we were forcing. But even so, it makes my heart so happy to know that she knows these things are important, and that she can recognize the things we say and do. Often times as a mom I always feel like I need to be doing more, need to be doing better, but in times like these I realize that we must be doing something right.

Often times, we as parents feel like we're trying to teach our children how to be. We teach them of Christ, and how to be honest, and polite. We teach them to be happy, to be grateful, to show kindness and compassion. But these are the moments where I realize that maybe Penelope teaches me more than I teach her. While I know she is a very smart girl, without a shadow of a doubt I know that she knows Christ, and she knew him long before I even told her about Him. It's because it wasn't all that long ago she was living with Him, learning and growing, excited to come to Earth and do His will. She strengthens my testimony just by watching how she react to seeing a picture of him. Christ lives and my daughter reminds me daily. I am always so grateful for her example. Even seeing how frequently she folds her arms to pray reminds me that I need to be praying more often, not just in the morning and at night.

I just love this happy little girl so much!

But anyway, that's just my little uplifting thought. I hope everyone has had a very uplifting and wonderful Sabbath day!