Dear Kids,
The other day we went to the park for about 45 minutes to kill some time, and to take advantage of the good weather in Idaho in November as long as we could!
At one point Talia wanted me to do an obstacle course and time it. So we took turns going through the course and it was a lot of fun.
Toward the end of when we were tiring out, Joshua decided he wanted to go through the course as well. He got to a part in the course when there were some funny twists and turns. He was there looking ahead of him and then he just started to cry, "Mom! I can't do it! I'm going to fall!"
"Joshua, it's okay, I'm right here. I'll show you what to do."
"Mom! I just want you to do it for me. Can you just do it for me?"
"Buddy, I can show you where to put your feet, and what to do. I'll be right here and you won't fall. If you fall I'll catch you."
"No mom! I'll fall! I'm scared!"
"Okay buddy. You can get down. You don't have to do this."
"No mom! I want to finish! I don't want to get down."
"Okay, I'll show you where to put your feet and I'll be right here if you fall." I started moving his foot and leg to where it would be safe to keep going. But through tears he just freaked out.
"No mom! Don't move me! I'm too scared. I'm going to fall!" He is just SOBBING by this point.
"Okay buddy, I'll lift you and get you down."
"NO MOM! I can't get down. I have to do this! I need to finish, I can't get down. I'm scared!"
On and on and on and on we went. We kept going around and around and around this conversation. Joshua desperately wanted to finish and keep going. But any time he tried to move his feet he just froze with fear because he was so scared that he was going to fall. So I would try to move his feet for him and he would scream. So then I would tell him I could just get him down and he would refuse because he wanted to finish so badly. We went around like this for awhile.
The whole time I was thinking, Wow... isn't this just like life? Here we are in hard moments of life. Jesus is right there to catch us if we fall, but it feels so scary to move because we don't want to fall., but we don't want to give up either. So we sometimes feel frozen, unable to move, but we know that we have to keep going forward. That forward is the only way to go. And the whole time our Heavenly Parents and Jesus are right there to help us along. Sometimes we refuse their help. Sometimes we just want to do it on our own. but we are so afraid of failing.
So guess what helped? I told him, "Joshua, how about I show you how to do it, so you see what to do and that it can work and you won't fall?"So I got up and I showed him where to put his hands and feet as I went ahead of him.
That finally broke his panic. I gave him the example and where to exactly put his hands and where to put his feet.
Just like Jesus and our Heavenly Parents.
They have gone before us. They know everything that we are feeling and experiencing because they have done it before. They know the twists and turns! But they can't do it for us... we have to do it ourselves with our own feet and our own hands until we feel comfortable.
The next time around the obstacle course Joshua was able to get through it just fine without stops or panic.
Everything in life teaches us kids. Look for the moments to be taught, and how our Heavenly Parents teach us, just like we learn how to teach our own children.
I love you all so much.
Your Mom
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