Taught By a Toddler

This weekend we attended the baptism of our granddaughter, Anna. Her little brother, John, is a rambunctious two year old who can’t sit still for even a few seconds. I’ve never seen so much energy! But to add fuel to the fire, he is also very loud. He doesn’t know the meaning of whisper or quiet and when he wants to talk he talks despite what else is going on. There is no shushing him. Therefore D7 had taken him into the hall while the speaker was instructing us about the gift of the Holy Ghost.

When it came time for the confirmation, I walked into the hall to tend to John so that D7 could return to the chapel to hear the blessing. To entertain John I walked around the hall and had him identify Jesus in all the pictures lining the walls. As we came to the last picture, D7 returned. The picture we were then at was the popular picture of the Savior appearing to the Nephites at the temple in Bountiful, a part of which is above. The full picture shows people bowing and crying and the destruction of the temple. I asked John where Jesus was and he pointed to the Savior. Then he said, “Trouble.”

John doesn’t speak in sentences yet, but the word trouble was very clear, and he kept repeating it so I pointed to some of the crying people and asked, “Is this trouble?”

John shook his head yes. Then I pointed to Jesus and asked, “Is this trouble?”

“No,” John said. “Help.”

I was stunned. Two years old, so active I can't figure out how he ever learned that from any lesson ever presented to him, and yet John knows. It makes me wonder if what he knows wasn’t taught to him at all, but is knowledge he brought with him into mortality.