Yesterday my wife was observing in a first grade in Boston when a little guy snuck up to her and smugly whispered in her ear, “I’m the best in the reader in the room.” Then he waited for her to tell him how wonderful he was. How grand it is to be six years old and be so guileless. As adults we play this game differently. When we do something really good and people compliment us we often defer by saying something like, “Thanks, but it was just okay.” That usually elicits a repeat of the compliment and inwardly we love it. It is music to our ears. We are not as guileless as a six year old.
Everybody has a gift and blessed is the person who knows what it is and has an opportunity to use it. I become distressed when I hear people tell young people, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” That is not so. We can dream of winning marathons or performing in Carnegie Hall, but we have to have the talent. I cannot be a National Basketball Association player even if I dream it.
We bless children when we help them find their gifts and enable them to be the best at whatever matches those gifts. When people tell them how good they are, teach them to say, “Thank you.” That is music to them and to the one complimenting them. While I am thinking of music to our ears, the best thing we will ever hear is Jesus saying to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Now that is not just music. That is a symphony.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 22, 2013
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org