This morning as I was making preparations for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner, an event I will be hosting with over 25 people in attendance, the 3 three and under collectively decided they wanted glasses of juice.
I stopped the work I was doing and gave them each a plastic cup half-filled with orange juice. I stood there watching them for a moment to make sure that was what they wanted, then continued my work nearby.
About four seconds later, I heard a splash on the ground behind me, jerked my head around and saw that Twin B had intentionally dumped the contents of his cup onto the kitchen floor. I quickly walked over to him, snatched the cup out of his hand, bent down with my finger in his face and shouted, "NO, NO, NO, Twin B! You do NOT dump your juice onto the floor!" I abruptly turned around and tossed his cup into the sink, then turned back to him and added, "And you're not getting any more juice!"
The twins can comprehend nearly everything I say, but because they aren't verbal yet, Twin B simply stood there and looked at me. I looked back at him.
Christ-like Behavior...
As I stood looking at Twin B and simultaneously reaching for a hand towel to clean up his mess, both twins did something I don't think I will forget for a long time to come. Twin A reached out his cup, still half full of orange juice, and handed it to Twin B. Twin B gently took it, but instead of drinking it all, or running away with his brother's cup, he took a small sip, then carefully handed it back to his brother.
I have never, ever, in my entire life, been so humbled by such small children. I felt as though I was the size of a worm.
The scriptures say that the natural man is carnal, sensual and devilish. But in 3 Nephi 11:38, Jesus also said, "And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God."
Today, regarding both of those teachings, I knew exactly what He meant.
