A Little Child Shall Lead Them

Abbi is most definitely a go-getter, and, for being so bouncy, shows great concentration, dedication, and speed at learning new things. I've been teaching her a bit of crocheting the past few months. She has chain stitch down well, and recently I finally took the time to show her single crochet.

As I expected, she picked up the method of making the stitch right away, and even knew how to tell where the next stitch was quickly, which was the one thing I figured she would have issues with. What I didn't expect, and turned out to happen, was that she is having the hardest time remembering which side of her work is the top. I'm not sure how she can know which stitch is next in line when she's not even sure which way is up, but she can ;).

I was so very pleased with her quick progress as to knowing how/where to make the next stitch, but after she continued to constantly try to make that next stitch upside down, my patience started wearing thin. We kept trying for a short time, but it got to the point that I just told her, "I need a break. We'll work on it later. I can't do this any more!" I left to work on other projects, hoping that a bit of a break would ease my frustration before it caused her to get frustrated.

A while later, I came back, and told her we could work on it a bit more. Once again, she wanted to crochet it upside down, and I realized that I wasn't going to be handling it much more patiently this time, either. I fixed her mistake, and then walked her through another stitch, not giving her the chance to hold it upside down, haha. And then I hear her, as she is bent over concentrating so hard, "Bri, you are so gentle with me."

I immediately felt convicted. I was most assuredly not feeling gentle with her, and she was being very forgiving... or maybe a bit oblivious. This is Abbi, haha ;). I sat there thinking of how patient she was being, and how true it is that "even a child shall lead them"... while she makes two perfect little stitches, on the right side. I congratulated her, very very hard, haha!,  and she said, "You know what? I asked Jesus to help me do it right, and he did! Because I prayed and said please help me". Giving me another little nudge in the right direction as I realized that I hadn't taken the time to pray for patience when working with an eternal soul, but she was even asking for help in something so small as to remember which side of her crocheting was right side up.

She still has trouble remembering how to hold it. But we are both learning something as we work on this together... she'll be making washcloths before I know it, and I have realized that the Lord can use anything to bring sins to our attention... even a word of encouragement from a little one that might make you examine your heart and obedience to the Lord a little closer.