A Little Fish of God
Today in her bath my daughter (five) was singing, “I’m a little fish of God, I’m a little fish of God…”
I heard her and wondered what she meant, but whatever it was I knew it was sweet because she had just been asking many questions about a story in the Bible on Abraham and had declared that she loved God even more than Abraham did. It was not quite true, of course, as I thought I should explain, since Abraham was willing to give up what he loved most in the whole world in order to obey God and Anna might not be willing to give up a candy bar if He asked her to. She herself had agreed that was probably true. We both know obeying is so very hard. (I work to obey God and she works at obeying me.)
But now she was happily singing, “I’m a little fish of God, a little fish of God…”
When I came into the bathroom, she said, “We’re all little tiny fishes in the water and God is like a great big whale compared to us.”
And she went on singing, “I’m a little fish of God…”
I love the little snapshots into her mind I get in daily life as a mama. I also love that we’re homeschooling for kindergarten. I’m so glad I don’t have to send her off to school and miss her sunshine all day long. And I love teaching her. To think I’m the one who gets to teach her to read!
When I learned to read in first grade in an upstate NY public school, I thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. It was one of the most exciting things that ever happened my whole early childhood. But my mom didn’t get to be the one to share in it and I can’t exactly find that teacher from long ago and celebrate the memory with her. What I mean is that Anna and I are making a memory as she learns to read and we’ll be able to share it our lives long since “mom and child” is a more permanent relationship than “elementary school teacher and child.”
Not everybody would find this so special; honestly, my own mom wouldn’t have and I know she loves me very much. But to me, teaching a child to read is an awesome experience.
