Image credit: Pixabay.com (2017), CC0 Public Domain[/caption]
My oldest is learning to read this year. These months of school have been full of wonder and excitement. We both know that each lesson unlocks a new world for her – new words, new books, new knowledge. But I’d forgotten what it would also mean for her faith.
During the final “O Antiphon” days of Advent, our little family gathered to pray Night Prayer around the lights on the Christmas tree. One evening, my husband called Lucy over to him and invited her to read the reading. She was hesitant because it is such a big book with lots of big words, but he assured her that it was a short reading and she would know almost all the words. So she sat and with the help of my husband, she read.
The next night she was hesitant, but asked to read again. And now she wants to read everything she can. She imagines Jesus as a young boy learning to read the scrolls and the prayers.
It’s enough to make my heart burst. Do you ever have those moments? Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the power of this vocation and that all the things we teach them are oriented to the eternal. This was one of those moments. We’ve been working so hard to learn how to read this year, but in the midst of phonics lessons and sight words I’d forgotten that the end result will be that my children can read the Word of God. But that night it all came crashing over me like a giant wave - what an incredible gift it is to raise them and teach them to love Jesus.
Copyright 2019 Megan Swaim
About the Author
.png?width=1806&height=731&name=CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c%20(002).png "CatholicMom_hcfm_logo1_pos_871c_2728c (002)"){kind=logo}
Comments