Out of the Mouths of Babes

Has anyone else noticed how eager toddlers are to learn about Jesus? Evelyn's second word she spoke after she barely turned one was, "Jesus." How is it, that these young people with an extremely limited attention span have an incredible capacity to learn about the Saviour? My answer: They just came to us from His presence. How else could they recognize pictures of him in all their variety and different renditions, but it's always: "That's Jesus!"

Evelyn is constantly shocking me with her love for Christ. I would like to take credit for this early devotion, but I can't. It's just her own sweet personality. When I put her in bed, I usually sing her some songs and on a certain night I started to sing her old favorite, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." She quickly cut me off by putting her hand over her mouth and stated, "Actuwee, I would like a song about Jesus." The first song she had memorized was "Jesus the Very Thought of Thee."

Once I was having a great old pity party for myself because the doctor said I couldn't take ibuprofen for my arthritis pain anymore because my stomach was getting to weak to handle it. I was really discouraged and not sure what to do, and generally feeling picked on. Evelyn caught on at the dinner table that something was wrong.

"Mommy, are you mad with daddy?"

"Oh, no, Sweetheart! I love your daddy. I'm just a little sad right now."

"Mommy, don't be sad! Jesus gave you a body so you would be happy!"

She was right! I have no idea how she knew what to say at that point.

Today I was preparing my lesson for Relief Society on Sunday. Evelyn started climbing all over me and my chair and chiming, "Play with me, Mommy! Play with me!" I told I was sorry, but I couldn't. I had to prepare my lesson so I could teach people about baptism. Then, I got an urge that I couldn't resist. "Evelyn," I asked, "Why do we get baptized?" I was extremely curious to know what she would say. You never know when she is going to say something profound or whether she's going to talk about how Jesus always washes His hands after using the bathroom.

"So why do we get baptized?"

"Because we love to!" She exclaimed.

"But why does Heavenly Father want us to be baptized?"

She went very still. If you know Evelyn, you know that only happens when she is violently ill or thinking very deeply...sometimes only when she is violently ill.

Then she looked me in the eye and said, "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

I was astounded! She is familiar with the song "God so loved the World" but I didn't know she could quote the scripture exactly! The thing is, later I asked her to say it again, and she couldn't say it.

Here is another favorite scripture of Evelyn's: