Jackson and Little Bear

 Little Bear's Trousers

This past Saturday night our grandchildren, Jackson and Emma, spent the night with us.  At bedtime I picked out the book, Little Bear's Trousers by Jane Hissey, to read to them.  After I had read the first page, six-year-old Jackson asked if he could read some, too, and I was amazed at how well he could read. 

I am quite sure at six my tongue could not skip easily over words like "scrambled," "disappear" and "direction," but Jackson read the words as if he had been born reading.

When Jackson began reading, his sister "scrambled" out of her bed and climbed between us to be part of the action.  Although she can't yet read, she could sense there was more to this story-time than just a bedtime story.

At one point the character's words in the story were presented in all-caps and I wondered if Jackson would recognize the significance.  Without hesitation he raised his voice to the perfect pitch as he read Little Bear's exclamation of dismay.  He had not only read the sentence perfectly, he also portrayed it that way as well.

Jackson's father tells me reads everything...song titles on the car stereo, signs on the road, virtually anything that has words, Jack tries to sound it out and read it.  It doesn't surprise me.  He comes from a family of people who love books, who love to read and whose lives are somewhat centered around words.

One reason Jack loves to read is because he knows words open up a whole new world of understanding to him.  Knowledge unattainable to him before he could read is now within his grasp and he wants to devour it all as quickly as possible. Considering that thought, is it any wonder that the Bible describes the Lord Jesus as "the Word"? 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.  In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:1-4, 14

Once we see the Lord Jesus is indeed the "Word" for our lives we will, like Jackson, realize that we have within our grasp something more marvelous than we can imagine.  Jackson sees words as miracles, but the true miracle is that the "Word was made flesh and dwelt among us".  The miracle is that ". . as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," (John 1:12,13).

We  have within our grasp the written Word of God to devour and, as Christians, we have within our hearts the Living Word of God, full of grace and truth, the Life, the Light of men.  Let us have the same joy and diligence in learning these Words as little Jackson does his.