Today’s reading: Mosiah 4:10-18
14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.
When my son, Rhys, was only a few months old, we noticed that he would always calm down while being held in the chair closest to the picture of Christ we had. He would stare fixated at it.
When he grew old enough to recognize people and point them out, we taught him that the picture was of Jesus. We would ask Rhys, “where is Jesus?” and he would point to that picture. Eventually, he was able to grasp the who Jesus was in any picture. In his room, there is a picture of Jesus with a little boy. When we ask, “where is Jesus,” Rhys points to Him. When we ask him, “where is Rhys”, he points to the little boy.
Rhys is 21 months old now. He recognizes Jesus very well and points to Him in all the pictures we pass in church.
We have started to teach him to pray. He knows to fold his arms during the prayer, and will get upset when others don’t fold their arms. No matter who is saying the prayer, after “dear Heavenly Father” is said, Rhys gets ready to begin signing “thank you”, while his arms are still folded. He then will sign “please” as we ask for blessings. He gets very excited when we say “in the name of Jesus Christ,” then shouts out “amen!”
There was one time that my family and I had started eating dinner without saying a blessing. Rhys had taken a few bites, too, then immediately dropped his spoon, folded his arms, grunted, pointed at everyone, and folded his arms again. He knew that we needed to bless the food. At 21 months old, my son reminded us to thank God for our food. It astounded us all!
Although I may struggle with my testimony of different things in the church, I know that my testimony of Christ is strong. I want to teach Rhys to depend on his Savior with his life, and to love Him as I do. I want Rhys to have a ferocious appetite to know more about his Father in Heaven and learn more about the Gospel. It is one of our most important duties here on Earth as parents–to teach out children to believe in and follow Christ. It is one of my prides that I have already helped my son, who isn’t even two yet, know who Jesus is, what the scripture are, and how to say a prayer.
I pray that we all follow the counsel from ancient prophets and modern-day apostles to teach the Gospel to our children.
I am an English and history teacher turned stay-at-home mom to Rhys, the rambunctious toddler. I was blessed to marry my college best friend. I am obsessed with all things medieval, Welsh, historical, and fantasy. I love to read, write, cook, run, and learn. I have recently come to love and appreciate living in the center of Utah and close to both sides of our family.