Who's teaching who?

Yesterday was a pretty significant day in my life as a mom. Everyday Colin does something to make me proud, but yesterday he did 2 things that just made me reflect on - hmm, how do I say this... - relationships. Not a lovey dovey relationship, real relations with others, and with God.

The first instance was when we were having a family meeting on Mommy and Daddy's bed. It's usually a fun time where we just talk about our day, or what we want to do, and we just listen to each other (as meaningful as it sounds, these 'meetings' don't last for more than 2 minutes due to the attention span of a 3 and 1 year old).

Cara, of course - being the aggressive and annoying little sister, did something to annoy Colin. Not just annoy, she really pissed him off. She *gasp* took something of his without asking. Now usually Colin brushes this off, but when he just awakes from his nap - he's particularly..... sensitive.

He was so furious, he was welling up with tears because he was so mad at Cara, and he did something I've never seen - he started to clap his hands really really hard because I guess he was just that frustrated? He normally stomps, but it seemed like he channeled his stomping into clapping for some particular reason. He clapped hard about 3 times in anger, and then..... he kissed Cara.

I witnessed the whole episode, and when he kissed her - I was blown away. I couldn't believe it, because I saw how much anger was welling up in him and I was waiting for him to either rip the item back out of her hands, or hit her.

I wasn't sure what it was that I was so proud of - but I started to get emotional, and I just stared at Joe and asked him if he saw that too. We were amazed at his sense of love and compassion for his annoying little sister. Can a child understand and demonstrate forgiveness, and 'loving your enemy' in a more innocent act? I was astounded, and wish I was more like Colin in that very moment. I wish I could just show love to those who wrong me, instead of dwelling on the hurt they have caused.

Anyway, during this short family meeting of ours, we had decided to go hike a mountain. No Grouse Grind here, but in the 'burbs it's called the Coquitlam Crunch. It was on this hike where Colin stunned us for a second time.

We were getting higher and higher, and he was able to see the land get smaller. We had conquered the mountain (which is pretty great for a 3 y/o Chinese kid with short legs), and when we paused to just look down at our achievement Colin asked, "How did this mountain get here?"

I responded, "Well, there wasn't anything here before, but God said 'let there be a mountain', it came to be!"

The normal response is usually, 'oh', or 'I like mountains', or something totally unrelated like 'I like the Avengers'.

But, he was actually amazed, that there was a mountain that was so big, that God actually made it. So he told Joe and me "Let's pray to God!".

He went on, "Dear God, thank you for the beautiful day, for Jesus, and God, and my play-dough maker, and for this mountain that we can climb".

Was he really teaching us a lesson in thankfulness? I truly believed in that moment that God was smiling. Shouldn't we all be grateful - for all the amazing things that we seem to take for granted? My 30 years of life has made me pass by all the amazing complexities of life that was created just for us. I think it's simple. I don't even think twice about it - but my own 3 year old was the one to pause, and thank God.

Even if you don't believe in God, just look at what's around you - and if we look at life through a 3 year old's eyes - things really are just amazing. We should be thankful for all the (small to us, but big to kids) things in life.