My kids creativity during quarantine has reached a new level. And their resilience.
My oldest ran to me the other day distressed… “Mommy, my brother flushed the toilet before I could show you something beautiful.”
I didn’t want to know, but of course he desperately wanted to share. “You see first my nose bled and then we all peed… and it made a rainbow in the toilet!”
House of boys, what can I say?
Rainbows must have been the day’s theme because later that day, I saw my twins take a full water glass, a piece of paper, and a flashlight outside. “What are you doing now?” I asked. “You see mom, if we shine a flashlight through the glass onto the paper… we should see a rainbow!” Apparently some show they were watching had told them this and they decided to see if it was true. They tried it a dozen different ways – white paper, colored paper, in the sunlight, in the shade, outside and in.
When nothing worked, one twin gave up but the other said, “I have an idea!” He grabbed some markers and drew a rainbow on the paper. Then he set up the water with the flashlight and said “Look through the glass, mama. Do you see the rainbow? I did it!”
I have to admit when things I try don’t work, I can get frustrated. I can get upset. I can throw in the towel and say “Ugh! I should never have tried to do this at all.” I can be like the first twin and walk away. But man do I want to be like the other twin that just cheerfully said “I’m gonna make this work, even if I have to think outside the box.” He was so proud of himself that he set his experiment next to him all day so he could look at the rainbow whenever he wanted.
Don’t you want to be like him?
So this is the prayer I wrote for you and me today:
Come, Holy Spirit,
Grace me with resilience today,
Help me to try again even when I fail,
Inspire my heart so that I may, like children, seek the joy that comes with finding rainbows even in the strangest of places,
And remind me of all that is possible if I only have a little faith.
Amen
Now go create some rainbows today! I wouldn’t advise the toilet one, but that’s just me.
