Small Decisions

My daughter called to tell me a story.
She knew that I would appreciate it.
She knew it would make me smile.
She knew that it would bring back memories.

This daughter is the mother of my grandchild.
We have a sweet moment captured on video from when she was about fifteen months old.
She toddled to the pantry when the door was open.
She began to play.

I kept potatoes in a bin on the lower shelf of that pantry.
She liked to go over to the bin and pull out the potatoes.
She lined them up on the shelf.
Sometimes a larger potato would roll a bit, which always caught her by surprise.

This particular day, she talked to the potatoes.
In her imagination, they were just the same as dolls or little figures.
She talked in that sweet babbling voice of a one-year-old.
She babbled in words that are only decipherable to another one-year-old.

She was having so much fun with the potatoes.
It has become a family story.
It has been brought up many times over the years.
That video, made it onto the family highlights DVD that everyone received.

I can still see her toddling to the pantry.
I can see her lining up the potatoes.
I can hear her talking to the potatoes.
I can hear the inflection of her voice as she conversed with them.

When my daughter called me, she told me about my granddaughter.
She had gotten up from her nap and was ready to have a little snack.
Those two hours before dinner time can be much too long without something to eat.
My daughter put some Puffs in a bowl.

Puffs are little finger snacks for babies.
They enable them to practice picking up food and eating it themselves.
They are soft and easy to swallow.
They had been a favorite of hers.

This particular day, the pantry door was open.
My granddaughter crawled over to the pantry and began to babble.
She pulled herself up and continued to babble as she pointed to a higher shelf.
My daughter knew right away what she wanted.

Up on that shelf was her new favorite snack.
It is a snack she gets when she is in the nursery at church.
It is a snack she has at Grandma’s house as well.
Her babbling and pointing allowed my daughter to know exactly what she wanted.

She chose Veggie Straws over Puffs.
Mom, she actually had a preference about her snack, my daughter said.
She was able to choose one thing over another and knew how to communicate that to me.
What is it about pantries and toddlers in our family?

This over that.
I do not want this snack but I prefer that one.
She knew where it was and how to get her point across with just sounds and gestures.
She is like her mommy; the story did make me smile.

Choices.
Even an eleven-month-old has preferences.
A small child is very aware of their surroundings.
They are limited only in their mastery of language.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all her choices were as easy as Puffs vs. Veggie Straws?
Her choices will become much more difficult as she gets older.
Her choices will become weighty when the choice is a major life decision.
That is why these little choices are so important, even choosing an afternoon snack.

Little choices are practice for larger ones.
The child is learning what they need to process one thing over another.
In the scheme of things, a snack does not matter.
Allowing the child to make that choice is beneficial to them in the long run.

Choices become more difficult as they get older.
What friends will they choose?
What school will they attend?
What job will they begin?

There will be physical decisions.
There will be moral decisions.
There will be ethical decisions.
There will be spiritual decisions.

Each time a child makes a decision they are strengthening their decision making ability.
A young child, wanting to dress themselves, can be given a choice of this outfit or that.
A young child, deciding what to do on a rainy day, can decide between this activity or that.
As they practice those binary choices, their decision making muscles are sharpened.

How do we guide our children to make good decisions?
What do we use as a plumb line?
How do we learn to make good decisions ourselves?
Is there a way?

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:9-16)

God’s Word is the plumb line.
God’s Word helps us make decisions.
As we read God’s Word, we take delight in it.
As we meditate on it, we discern the way that we should go.

Choices get more difficult as we get older.
The this or that is the choice between good and evil.
We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
God sent His Son as our Savior so we can be redeemed when we trust in Him.

That is the decision we want to help our children understand.
Follow God or not follow God?
Trust in Jesus alone or trust in yourself?
Believe in the Truth of God’s Word or think that God’s Word is relative?

Decisions are important.
Simple binary choices become weighty decisions about our eternal life.
God has entrusted our children so we can teach them about Him.
We need the help of His Spirit to parent our children; we cannot do this job alone.

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