Thankful Today #13

#13- The sweet heart of a child

People talk a lot about the Terrible Twos and that Threes are even worse. I have a two and a half year old right now, so I guess I am in the middle of that. Sure, there are trying times when he is learning lessons and boundaries...but nothing harder than challenges that arise with an infant and probably nothing compared to what is to come. It is just being a parent I think!

What I LOVE about this age though, is I get to hear what he was thinking and some of those thoughts reveal such a tender and precious heart. The Bible speaks clearly about the goodness of a child's faith and I love getting to see what a heart can be like before age begins to change it. It stirs in me a desire to protect and nurture his heart, so that he continues to have that love and kindness, and even more to be an example of that.

Today reminded me how thankful I am for a child's heart, in particularly my child's. We packed a box for Samaritan's Purse's Christmas project- Operation Christmas Child. The idea is to pack a shoebox full of gifts for a child and that box will be one of thousands distributed across the world to kids, along with them hearing the Gospel. The giver chooses the gender and the age range. We chose a boy in the age range of 2-4 so that it would be my son's age group. I bought most of the gifts at a time that he wasn't there but had him help me wrap the box and put in the gifts. I told him the box of gifts was going to a little boy who lives far away who doesn't ever get fun presents and does not have many things. We also talked about this gift being a way we can tell this little boy that Jesus loves him. I was a little concerned that my son would want to play with or keep all of the little gifts, because I chose items that I thought a young boy would like based on what my little boy likes. But, he was so excited to make a present for a little boy that he did not even try to take any of the gifts for himself. He excitedly showed his daddy the box and found a safe place to put it so that our puppy wouldn't step on it. He can't wait to take it to church tomorrow so that we can send it to the little boy!

We're also potty training right now. My son got a bank in the shape of a dog last Christmas from his grandmother and he loves putting coins in it. I was trying to think of a reward for him as we potty trained and came across a stash of coins. So, we have been putting coins in Rufus the puppy bank all day as he has successes on the potty! I figure that it is a lot cheaper to give him coins as he learns than what we spend on diapers! The following conversation didn't happen today but another time that he was putting coins in his bank. I was just reminded of it today as we visited the bank a lot. A few weeks ago, I was telling him how good it is to save money and that one day he could use all of the money he saves for something special. His response- he wants to buy food for kids to eat. I would love to say that I taught him that...but I don't think I did. He heard it somewhere, maybe at school or church or on tv, and it stuck with him. When I clarified what he said, because it was not the answer I was expecting at all, he again said, with excitement, that he wanted to buy food for kids.

Tonight we told him how proud we were that he wanted to send a gift to a little boy and how it makes God happy because he wants us to be happy to give. I thought to myself how hard it is for adults to give up things that they would want so that someone else that they don't know would be able to have something special. I am thankful that my son has a loving heart and will work hard to make sure that continues in his life.