When your kid astounds you

The other day, I was watching my eldest get out her nightly reading.  Every single night, without fail, she does her devotions, reads her Bible (she has set herself a goal of reading the Bible in a year), and does a prayer book.  I have, not even once, intruded on this time, just quietly observed.  This is all about her and her relationship with Jesus.  Over time I have given her some tools: a devotional book, a Bible, some journals but the impetus to do this has been one of her own design and it doesn't include me. :)   I have observed this for a few years now.  Curiosity overcame me the other night about the two other books she puts on her bed and I have seen her writing in.  I causally asked her about them.  Her answered astounded me.  They were journals.  One was for all the verses or quotes she had found that she wanted to remember and one for a list of running questions she has asked me for quite some time now.  I knew she asked me questions but I never realised she recorded both the questions and answers.  I can not even begin to tell you how impacted I was by this - in a few different ways.  It made me take a critical look at how I answer these questions of hers.  Do I casually answer them or do I pay them great heed?  I thought about how her example speaks life to me. This tender-aged sweet girl is an example to her almost 40 year old mother. I thought about how she has made her faith her own.  She has chosen to ask the difficult questions, to do the seeking and to spend the time researching.  She agrees, or disagrees, she embraces, she learns.   These are habits she is developing in her youth that will serve her well as she grows into adulthood.  But what amazes me the most, what I am proud of the most; is that they are HERS.  I can learn from this young girl as she grows and finds her own path.  I can learn from her passion and stamina, from the budding desire to learn and know more about her God.

And it has given me great pause to make sure that my answers to her questions match her fervent desire to increase in both knowledge and wisdom.  I am ever so glad I asked about the last two books, because with it, has come some deep thoughts and reflections; on parenting, on relationship, on spiritual depth, on life.