Running is easy, reading is much harder!

Monday mornings are rough sometimes. Annie loses it because I woke her up and picked out clothes she didn't like. Gracie is trying to brush teeth without getting toothpaste in her hair or on her clothes because today is school picture day and we want to look "Extra Beautiful." And before we know it, once again we are running late getting out the door and all I can do is summon my waning patience so that our ride to school is enjoyable and stress-free as possible.

On the way to school Gracie began sharing her frustration of NOT being able to read the books in her book basket at school.  In true Gracie fashion, she immediately began to say “I Can’t” and “I will never be able to  . . . “ and “It’s too hard.” Fearing that she might become an adult, who like her mother is challenged to believe that she can, in fact do hard things, we talked about belief and changing the way you think. Heavy for a Monday morning drive to Kindergarten, maybe, but it was happening and I had a choice to make; I could shrug it off as no big deal, hoping she’d get over it, or I could engage and strive to make the most of this seemingly small moment. The next ten minutes included a conversation about how sometimes things in life are hard, but we have to believe we can instead of we can’t.

Like me, Gracie needs evidence and a visual to reinforce her belief. So I immediately gave her an example I thought she could grasp. I said to her, “Remember last year when Mommy ran the ½ marathon? Do you think that was hard or easy?” Gracie acknowledged that it was probably hard. I proceeded to tell her that I had felt much the same way she did. I didn’t think that I could do it, it seemed too hard;; but Chelsea had told me I could do it and Daddy had told me I could do it and “What did you and sissy tell me?” I asked her.

“You can do it” she responded.

“And did I do it?’

“Yes Mommy,” she replied, “but that was easy; that was running and I’m trying to read and that’s A LOT harder!”

And then there's that. This child of mine will most likely never be easily persuaded! So I did the only other thing I could think of in that moment . . . I said, “Gracie, you are right. Sometimes in life there are going to be things that are really hard, but you have to believe that you can do them. Daddy has taught me, and his cross country boys and he teaches the new people from church that you have to believe you can do something before you can do something. And do you know what God says?”

“What mommy?”

“Repeat after me . . . God says . . . I can do”

A barely audible voice from the backseat echoed, “I can do . . .”

“All things through Jesus . . .”

“Annie – you say that part . . . c’mon Annie we should do it together.”

"No. I don't want to. You do it."

I tried again. “C’mon Gracie you can do this. Annie can to, but if she doesn't want to, leave her alone. Let’s start again.”

“I can do all things . . .”

“Okay Mommy. I can do all things . . .” she replied a bit louder this time.

“Through Jesus who gives me strength!”

“Through Jesus who gives me strength.”

And for the final 3 minutes drive to school, she repeated the verse complete with arm motions and enthusiasm in her voice. Annie even chimed in a few times too. In the final moments waiting in the parent drop-off line, I reminded her that if she had a hard situation, or if she sat down to read and her brain said she can’t, to remind her brain that “I CAN do all things through Jesus who gives me strength.”

“But Mommy, reading is really hard, I can’t do it . . .”

“Gracie, daddy has taught me that you have to believe you can, even if you think you can’t. You have to change the way you think and what does God say . . .?”

“I can do all things through Jesus who gives me strength”

That’s right Gracie girl.

And with that it, she got out of the car and ran up the long sidewalk all by herself into her great big world. This morning I was vividly reminded that moments like this are the little things that become BIG things.  With a lump in my throat because I could not go with her into that great big school today, I choose to believe that she is not alone and that she is equipped to handle whatever this day brings. Today Gracie wasn't the only one who had to remember to believe that with God’s help we can do hard things..