LIFE (ACCORDING TO A FOUR-YEAR-OLD)!
I recently spent the afternoon in my office drawing and creating works of art with my youngest granddaughter, who is four years old. As we sat together at my desk, I glanced at her work and exclaimed, “Taylor, that is awesome! You are so talented!”
With complete confidence in her artistic abilities, she answered, “I know.”
Silence. I could tell she was thinking. I was also thinking about how much I love my granddaughter’s self-confidence. I am not concerned that she is overly confident at this point in life. As she grows and becomes more involved with her peers, her confidence will get knocked down a notch or two. Because of this, I find subtle ways to encourage her to be confident in the person God created her to be in spite of words spoken by others.
It took years for me to learn that the opinions of others do not define me, but it is God who created and defined me before I was even born. My favorite Scripture came to mind as I looked at the sweet face of my granddaughter.
Psalm 139:13-17 (NIV)
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Lord you know me; you placed your Hand on me before I was born.”
With soft music playing in the background, the only other sound in the room is pencils moving across a blank canvas of paper. We are both lost in our thoughts.
Occasionally, out of the corner of my eye, I notice her glance at my work and then use her pencils to create whatever she saw on my canvas. Knowing that she is watching, I intentionally draw shapes like circles or simple flowers that are easy for her to recreate. It is a lesson by showing, not telling. Finally, she broke the silence.
“I am much more talented than you are,” she said, looking at my artwork.
I nodded my head in agreement. Maybe the flowers or circles I drew were too simple from her point of view. Perhaps she expected more from me.
Watching her tiny hands grasp the pencil, moving it back and forth across the paper, I wasn’t sure what the result would be. But she knew. Well, maybe she knew but she may be creating as I do at times where I start without a plan and end up with something totally unexpected. (Life lesson!)
We continued drawing, again in complete silence. She is still thinking. So am I. My thoughts moved ahead in life to a teenager with curly red hair, sitting at my desk, drawing, painting, and preparing for her first art show. It could happen and I have confidence that her talents will explode as she develops into a beautiful young woman. I smile with delight as I think of what her future holds.
I heard her release a long, deep sigh. She was either finished with her masterpiece or about to enlighten me on what it takes to be a great artist. With her hands spread out, palms up, eyes wide with expression, she turned to me as she spoke words of wisdom that have forever changed my life.
“If you would eat more, you would be more talented.”
There. You have it. It is the words I have waited to hear all my life, and I am sure as you read this, you are jumping with pure delight at her solution for creativity! “Eat more!” All this wisdom from a 4-year-old little girl!
She continued working on her art while I sat contemplating her words. Thinking of the bag of Oreo cookies in the kitchen cabinet, I had to ask. I had to know.
“Taylor, what if I ate the bag of Oreo cookies that are in the kitchen cabinet? I mean, like the entire bag? Would that make me more talented?”
Scrambling out of her chair, she put her colored pencils down as quickly as possible. “That will make you more talented, Mimi! We will both be more talented!” She emphasized “both” as she darted down the hallway to the kitchen for the unopened bag of Oreo cookies!
Together, we shared the bag of cookies as our talents, and my waistline increased. Taylor ate the middle; I ate the outside of the cookies. We made a great team and finished the cookies in record time.
Two hours later, the empty Oreo cookie bag was on the desk with cookie crumbs scattered all around and my office was decorated wall to wall with incredible works of art.
On display were watercolor paintings, acrylics, fabric art, and sketches of horses, dogs, cats, and fish. Anything we named, we drew, and then colored or painted! It was our art challenge game!
We also created handmade thank you cards with envelopes to match. After I drew the design on the front of the card, Taylor selected colored pencils to finish the artwork.
Taylor made some beautiful fabric birds and decided to attach one of her birds to the front of a Thank You card that was sent to a special lady. After we wrote our message on the inside of the card, it was sealed, stamped, and ready to go in the mail.
I had one happy little girl who started a project, put so much of herself into it, and saw it to completion when she lifted the flag on the mailbox.
That was our last summer day before busy schedules began with school activities, homework, and sports.
Carefree summer days passed too quickly once again.
I wish life could stay as simple as it is on this hot August day sitting in my office with a four-year-old, drawing shapes and creating art with colored pencils.
I love the days spent with my granddaughters, creating memories from a blank canvas of life. Or when we implement simple solutions, like eating a bag of Oreo cookies to help make us more creative. If Oreo cookies were the answer to creativity, my neighbors would tire of the delivery trucks bringing my daily shipments! In fact, I would ship cookies all over the world for the sake of creativity or problem-solving!
At the end of the day, Taylor told me I was a better artist since we had eaten the Oreo cookies. I never knew just two little cookies could make such a difference! Well, maybe it was more than two…
I wonder what a Hot Fudge Sundae would do. Should I?
