Teaching Siena

It's hard for me to sit down with my girls and teach them what I believe. This is not to say that I don't know that it's important for them to know about my convictions, but I find it hard and somewhat unnatural to sit on a chair facing opposite my three year-old telling her "I believe in this and this and this." Instead, I have been relying on the moments when Opportunity is whispering, "Talk." I know that I haven't noticed all of those times when Heavenly Father wants me to teach His children; however, today there was a moment when it was not only strongly recognizable, but also undeniable.

Qiana was down for a nap and Siena had been in her room for Quiet Time. She was reading the new issue of the Friend magazine--a reward I use often for good behavior. As I was downstairs working on the computer, I heard soft sobbing upstairs. As this is pretty unusual for her, I called to her to come down and talk with me. She came down with tears in her eyes and a really depressed look for a toddler. My heart broke just to see her like that. I asked her what happened and she told me (in her own words, translated:)

Siena: "Mommy, I was reading the magazine and I was crying."

Me: "Why? Was it because of the people who were mean to Jesus?" (I had noticed an article about Easter, and it was the first thing that came to my mind.)

Siena: (even more distraught) "Yes, they were bad to him and they killed Jesus." (I don't even know when the concept of Death had really started making sense to her.)

--It was at this point that I knew that God was giving me a teaching opportunity.--

Me: "Did you know that even though Jesus was dead, after three days He was resurrected? That means that He wasn't dead anymore and that He could go live with His Father, Heavenly Father, again. Remember that He visited Maria and His friends, then went to visit the children and mommies and daddies in another part of the world? We can be happy because, like Jesus, we can go back to live with Heavenly Father again."

She had stopped crying and was smiling now; it felt so good because I knew that she really understood what I was trying to explain. Thanks to the many stories from the Friend that we've read, the movies we've seen, and her classes in church, what I was saying to her was validated. More importantly, I think it was the Spirit that affected her in the first place, and touched her during our conversation.

It's kind-of encouraging to have moments like that that tell you, "She's getting it."