Once upon a time, my 14-year-old son Joe (who was 10 at the time) asked to go with me to my holy hour. It’s from 4:00 to 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning—i.e. the dead of night if you’re a kid—and for that reason I didn’t really think I should take him. Still, he pressed his case (as is his way) and in the end, I relented.
(I wrote about the experience here.)
Since then, he and his brother have come with me a handful of times. They like that I make them an insulated mug of coffee and they love when we swing by a local Perkins afterward. We don’t always but it makes for an extra-special outing—a perk, as it were, for getting up at the crack of dawn.
Before the crack of dawn, even.
Well, being a teen and (in Jem’s case) nearly a teen, my boys haven’t asked to go along with me in awhile. Last night, however, my 9-year-old daughter did. It wasn’t the first time she has asked me, either…though I’ve been dragging my feet for the reasons already listed: she’s little, it’s early, it’s cold, etc.
Still she persisted.
She is, after all, cut from the same cloth as her brother.
“What do you think?” I asked my husband. He wasn’t really one to ask, given that he himself was dragging Jem out of bed at the same time to go deer-hunting on our land in Wisconsin.
“I think you should,” my husband replied.
“She seems ready.”
Upon hearing the verdict, Felicity happy-danced off to bed…and was up before I could even wake her. Seriously. I turned from the coffee maker and there she was—smiling, dressed, and more than ready.
She talked nonstop the entire way there.*
She talked nonstop, but when she got there she listened.
I am reminded of what Joe’s confirmation teacher told us about our kids and Eucharistic adoration. “We just need to put them in His presence,” she said, “And then get out of the way.”
She’s right, don’t you think? I wonder if too often I bring the Faith down to their level—keep it simple, keep it “cute”—and yet, I’m beginning to see that they can handle much more.
In Felicity’s case, all she needed to do was ask.
*Okay, so this is one area where my boys are different. They do not talk the entire way there; they pretty much just sit there. ☺
I just shared this post on Facebook. 🙂
Alone time with mom and alone time with Jesus… a win-win for a child either way!
Yes, exactly what Suzie said. I think of you often, when I take my kiddos to our Adoration chapel (although not in the wee hours) I always like to start our "mommy dates" with a visit there.
I was planning on writing about this this week…
I love this 🙂
How beautiful!
What a lovely post — Thanks for sharing this precious story.
Wonderful!
The moment I realized how deep my eldest was able understand her faith, it blew me away.
I just took my 10 year old for the first time. It's a lovely thing to see them 'listening'.