From the Mouth of Babes

If there is one thing that never ceases to amaze me since I have become a mother it's how often my children teach me something. I think some of the most important lessons I've learned in life have come from my children, and when I take time to humble myself and see the world through their eyes, I find out something new and profound. It's one of the things I love most about motherhood.

The other day I was on my way to drop my son off for soccer practice (yep, I'm a true, blue soccer mom) when my eight-year-old, Hallee, asked me a deep doctrinal question right out of the blue. She looked at me and casually asked, "Mom, if Adam was the only man on earth, how did he get baptized?"

I hate to admit that I was unprepared for such a question and fumbled around trying to come up with the correct answer. I began by stallling, "Well . . . that's a good question, Hallee. What do you think?" We both came up with some ideas until she seemed to find an answer that made sense to her (which was that Christ must have come down and baptized him). We continued to the soccer field in silence, but I was feeling a little uneasy about not knowing if I had given my sweet daughter a doctrinally correct answer. Thankfully, when I told my little brother about the conversation the next day, he reminded me that the answer is in the scriptures (of course!). He found the verses in Moses, chapter 6. I was amazed that I had not remembered reading about it before, but I was also relieved to know the right answer.

When Hallee got home from school that day I took her aside, excitedly explaining that I had found the answer to her important question from the day before. We got out the scriptures and she read the verses aloud, then we discussed them. I truly saw her face light up as she read the answer, and I was reminded of how thankful I am that the Lord did not send us here alone to try to figure everything out by ourselves, that there really are answers, and most of them are found in the scriptures. We talked about Hallee's own baptism and how the proper Priesthood authority was handed down right from John the Baptist to Joseph Smith, and so on down to her. It was a sweet experience to share those few moments with her, and of course I left learning the most of all.

This was not the first time Hallee had suprised me with this type of question. I can't help but think of how these dear children we have truly have more knowledge and understanding about spiritual matters and eternal truths than we could ever guess. I've always heard the phrase, "out of the mouths of babes" we will be taught. It's true.