“Toes, Toes, TOES,” two-and-a-half year old Addie Sue chanted!
We were blessed to have our son and his family from New Orleans come stay with us during their recent evacuation due to the hurricane.
Our granddaughters kept us busy and we loved it. Poppy (Gary) had a helper as the girls went with him to do chores around the place. The riding lawnmower was a favorite as Gracie drove it and Addie rode with Poppy to take feed down to the chickens. Feeding the chickens brought on a scramble for boots and bug spray to keep the mosquitos at bay.
Addie is fun to watch as she learns and soaks up experiences, new words and ways to do new things.
Gracie is on the dance team and has to practice her routines. Addie is right behind her trying to do the kicks and turns, too.
When I am in the kitchen, Addie comes and pulls a chair beside me to help me. I give her something safe to work on as she watches what I am doing.
Jayme, Daniel’s wife and the girl’s mama, teaches online. When she sits with her computer in her lap to grade papers, I notice Addie squeezing in to sit beside her with her iPad. She tells me she is “working,” too.
When I was painting my toenails, Addie came over to see what I was doing. She quickly told me, “toes!” She put her little foot next to mine. Of course, I painted her toes, too, like mine. She had to show her mama, sister and everyone what we had done.
She watched me “fix my face” and brought me a chap stick. “Lips,” she said, pointing to hers. She wanted me to put her “lipstick” on.
How do you learn best? Do you like to read what to do and then fix or build things? Do you watch a video of how to fix something and then apply what you learned to your task? Do you want someone to tell you? Explain to you? Or show you? Do you learn best by listening or reading or doing?
How do we learn spiritually? How do we apply what Jesus teaches us and the Holy Spirit shows us to our daily activities? Church offers many ways to learn the wisdom of God in the Bible and how to live a life like Christ.
You can listen to the sermons, actively taking notes and writing questions you have. You can take part in discussions in small group Bible study. You can participate in missions to apply what you believe to what you do in service to others. And so many more opportunities are around you to learn and live your beliefs.
To imitate is a verb. To do something. “Take or follow as a model.” “Copy.”
Who are you following? Copying? Acting like?
The Bible tells us who to imitate. Paul, in the book of Ephesians, 5:1 in the New Testament of the Bible, tells us: “Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children.”
In I Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
Let’s be aware of who and what we are imitating in our lives and strive to be like Christ so that we would never lead anyone astray! Little children can teach us so much!
