Friday, November 30, 2007

The Longest Finger of All

At church on Sunday, after Leah had tired of drawing in her notebook, she sat back in our pew and began fiddling with her hands. Minutes later she lifted her fist high in the air, her middle finger erect. I cupped my hand over hers and whispered, “Leah, don’t do that.”

“Why, Mom?” she asked.

“Because it’s not nice.”

“But, Mom,” she said. “It’s my longest finger.”

How could I reason with that?

“Yes, Sweetie. It sure is,” I said. “Just keep it to yourself.”

So for the rest of sacrament meeting she admired her middle finger, the longest of all, from the safety of her little lap.

9 comments:

Laura Marchant said...

Oh my gosh! Too funny. I have to say her realizing this at church is the topper!

Rachel said...

Very sweet. Too bad the things that you can admire and be proud of, such as your longest finger, are made into something ugly.

Reverend Shawn said...

I WOULD have let her proudly wave that finger around ... mind you in my context more than a few people deserve the assumed meaning of that finger rather than a child admiring a beautiful part of her self ...

I for one find my fingers endlessly fascinating ... they can do SOOOOO many amazing things ...

They are a thing of beauty !!

shauna said...

It really was an innocent gesture on Leah's part. She was simply facsincated with her fingers and had no idea that sole long finger might mean anything at all. It was just so ironic that she discovered it smack dab in the middle of church.

Reverend Shawn said...

In my world there are no "ironic" discoveries ...

The Spirit was at work during worship ... challenging you ... AND ... offering a reflection on what can happen when humanity bumps together in settings like the church.

Your daughter sounds wonderful ...

shauna said...

She is wonderful, Shawn. Thanks for the insightful thought.

GustoBones said...

Oh, the things children do at church! Um, not sure that I agree with Shawn, I don't think the Spirit influenced you daughter's discovery, but the Spirit can definitely help you as a mother deal patiently and calmly with a situation like that.
Disclaimer: I think that children can be moved upon often by the Spirit(even more than adults sometimes.)

Anonymous said...

Good for her for exploring her fingers and realizing how long and beautiful they are!!! Sorry it had to happen at church, but hey, she is a little girl!! Who on earth would think it was anything but innocent! It just figures she discovered this at church! Too funny, although probably not so funny to you at the time.
XOXO

Becky said...

so innocent....I agree.

I had my own little incident recently with my son calling his sister word that, well frankly was not appropriate....but he had NO idea. I had to explain to him to NEVER say that word again and he was like..."what's the big deal"....

innocence