Sunday, March 15, 2009

Line Upon Line

Today Brek and I spoke in church. I can't say that I love speaking in church. Actually, the part I dislike the most is the actual writing of the talk. But it is done, and I now have a greater resolve to make our family home evenings better.

The highlight of speaking in church was sitting on the stand. Because, you see, I got to sit and observe my children from afar, as opposed to sitting with them while struggling to keep them reverent. They were actually very well behaved, at least they appeared to be from where I sat. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them. It is an interesting thing to watch children's eyes. They are so observant, taking in all around them.

After Brek and I had finished speaking, I glanced down at the kids. Josh gave me a huge smile and a thumbs up. It was sweet to see the kids "cheering us on" so to speak.

After church, we migrated to dad's house to see our cousins. The weather was nice enough that the kids spent a lot of time outside playing. Once again, I enjoyed observing. And while doing so, I was privileged to see the evolution of the back flip....backwards.

Sydney, Madelyn, and Luke were all on the trampoline. As though they had planned it, they each performed their tricks one right after the other. Sydney began with a back flip, then hopped off the trampoline. Madelyn followed with a front flip (landing on her bum), then hopped off the trampoline. Only Luke remained, and the minute Madelyn jumped off, he proceeded to do a somersault.

Each had seen the sibling in front of them do a trick and then did their version of that trick. Back flip, front flip, somersault. Reversed, this would be the natural progression of steps a child takes in learning to do a back flip. Each skill mastered gives them confidence to move on to bigger and better feats.

Isn't life a bit like that? In the gospel, we learn line upon line, precept upon precept. We continually work to become better so we are moving towards that "back flip", instead of digressing back to somersaults.

(Good thing I'm not really talking about doing an actual back flip or I would be in big trouble. To this day I still can't do a back flip on the trampoline. In most things in life, I wouldn't consider myself a chicken. But, back flips on the trampoline brings out the chicken in me like you wouldn't believe!)

So, I guess I'll stick to strengthing my testimony, and leave the back flips to Syd.

1 comment:

steph said...

Emily, you guys did great talking in church. I know it made me want to improve our home evenings. In fact, I am supposed to be looking for something for a lesson right now. Thanks for sharing your experiences.