They are never too young

Last Sunday Bryson turned in his shoebox for the Operation Christmas Child. If you haven't heard about this organitation, please click on the link and it will tell you some of the amazing things they do to help children all around the world. I've been participating in this project for several years. This year I wanted to let Bryson be apart of it. I wanted him to experience in the best way he could what it means to serve others. What a wonderful feeling it is to be able to give to others that don't have near as much as he has. I was encouraged by this post from Courtney at Lil Light O' Mine that no matter what age your kids are and all the nay sayers that will tell you their too young to understand; to go ahead and teach your children. Let them learn at this age what it means to live out their faith. Even if they don't "get it" they will one day. So thank you Courtney for this reminder!

Leading up to our shopping trip, I tried to explain to Bryson in the best way I could that we were going to go pick out some gifts for another little boy who doesn't get very much for Christmas. And that we were going to put those gifts in a box and send it off so that this little boy could have something to open on Christmas. Of course his three year old reply was "okay momma, but what about me?" And again I did the best I could to explain to him that this was not about him. Oh that's so hard to get across to a three year old.

Picking out things for the "little boy." If he said "gifts for the little boy" once he said it a million times while we were in the store. But I really believe he had a lot of fun picking out all that stuff.

I didn't get a picture, but while we were in the check out line he asked if he could place all the things from the buggy on to the table. He has never been interested in doing that before when we are at the grocery store or Target. So it made this mommy heart a little proud that he was doing some big boy things.

 

This was Bryson while I was explaining to him what we were going to do with the box after we filled it up with all the gifts we bought. Of course he asked "but what about me?" But then it was like a tiny little light bulb went off and he looked at me and said "momma, I'm going to share these toys with the little boy?" And it was in that moment that I knew what Courtney had said was true. Even if he didn't fully understand what he was doing he "got it." In his tender hearted, sometimes all about me, three year old little heart, he got it! So please don't let others tell you your kids are too young to understand things. Don't let them talk you out of doing/sharing/teaching your kids about their faith.

 

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" Proverbs 22:6