A Guest Post: "Seeing into Josiah's Mind A Bit At A Time...."

one of my dear jacksonville friends, bethene middleton, shared this note last week on facebook, and i asked her permission to share it here!   we got to spend a little time with josiah and his family last month, and he is a sweetheart!  as we were leaving chick fil a, and our visit with them, our forrest said, "that josiah is one of the sweetest kids i have ever met...."  

This morning, I was awakened by Josiah blasting his lungs singing. I came out to find him on “Saddle Ridge Ranch” (VBS from last year) complete with cowboy hat and stick pony. Giddy up! He then went on to talk and sing about “Big Apple Adventure” and “Game Day Central” (themes from other years). Music is Josiah’s deep love. Lately I’ve also heard him singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in his bed, nearly word perfect.

Sometimes I wonder what is in his mind and how much sinks in from what he hears and sees and is taught. Then there are moments that I realize, he is constantly listening to us… observing and learning. The song “Oh be careful little eyes, what you see!” reminds me he may not share all he thinks with us, but he sure is taking it all in. Be careful Momma what you say and do!

So, I have learned a bit more from him about how much VBS is impacting him. And it isn’t just the theme songs. Every year two of our church staff members get a pie in the face as a reward to the kids for their offering brought for missions. On the 4th of July made a no bake lemon cheesecake. My mom was showing around the berry made flag cheesecake “pie” to people, and Josiah so badly wanted to carry it himself. It’s a good thing she kept helping out because, before long, we found out he really wanted to “pie in the face” someone. Disaster narrowly avoided! Phew!

However, I got to thinking… this could be a great motivational tool. We could set a goal for him and when he reaches it, Dad could get a pie in the face (yep, dad, not mom!).

Along comes evening when we have friends over for dessert and games before fireworks. Josiah takes his piece of cheesecake dessert and talks about “pie in the face” again. I encouraging him that sometime we will have to do that, but not with this pie. It wasn’t long and… yep; he puts his piece of dessert in his own face and laughs up a storm, making sure everyone sees it! And the next day? He grabs a left over cupcake, and it goes into his face too (thankfully, mostly only around the mouth).

Yep, he “gets it” on lots of levels. Tucking him in last night he sang “Zacchaeus was a wee little man” to me… including how apparently Jesus sternly pointed and told him to “get out of that tree”. Another window into the brain of Josiah! We took some extra time to talk about what Jesus told Zacchaeus about being born again and about God’s love for Josiah. He is getting more and more interested in talking about Jesus’ death. Before, we couldn’t really go there, except to immediately talk about how Jesus isn’t dead now, He’s ALIVE! Last night we had a great conversation about how Jesus’ death was to pay for our sins, all the things we’ve done wrong, so that we don’t have to pay for them ourselves. We talked a lot about my hope that he will choose to ask Jesus to forgive his sins and let Him be the boss of his life and that Jesus can help him choose to obey.

Lately I’ve really enjoyed listening to his prayers after our conversations. Last night he prayed about Jesus death and how he is alive; that it is glorious; and how it is a happy day! (His long time favorite song is “Oh, Happy Day” by Tim Hughes… check out the lyrics and you’ll understand his prayer more.)

Last week, in the middle of the night he woke me up. He told me he was scared… that he had a dream with loud screams. He loves to watch the comic shows… Iron Man, Batman, and Spiderman. But it seems they get his imaginary world going and often he has a hard time coming out of that world. Plus it brings the scary dreams. So every time I weaken and give into the shows, I regret it and stand firm again. That night he was able to realize it the scary dream screams were related to Iron Man. I told him praying and asking Jesus for help was a good thing and so was choosing not to watch Iron Man. Then I prayed for him to know Jesus was with him so he could go back to sleep and have sweet dreams. I got up to leave and he said “Wait, Mom” and immediately began to pray on his own. He prayed that Jesus would help him, and that he would watch good shows like “Backyardigans” (which he has worked really hard on saying in an understandable way). My heart melted.

I so long for the day he lets Jesus be his boss, but I’m so encouraged by the glimpses into his heart, mind and soul. I sure do love my little guy! He reminds me so often about how joy filled life really and truly is. There are so many things to give thanks for that I way to easily just glimpse at and move on. He meditates on and celebrates them again and again!

and i look forward to the day that bethene shares with me that josiah has trusted Jesus to "be his boss," as his own personal Lord and Savior!