Learning to Fall

This morning, I decided (against my will and bad attitude) to venture up to the church and begin the joyous process of vacuuming the family life center.  This has become my Thursday morning bonding ritual with Nate...teaching him how to vacuum and sweep and mop VERY large areas :)  Before we left the house this morning, he was riding around on his motorcycle (a small Little Tykes toy). When I asked him to put it up, he replied, "Mommy, Nate ride motorcycle at church!"  I decided it would keep him occupied, so we loaded into the car, plastic motorcycle and all.

Once at the church, mommy began to vacuum and Nate began to ride his motorcycle.  As I pushed and pulled the vacuum out from under each chair and listened to its somewhat soothing hum, I continued to watch Nate from the corner of my eye.  

Forward...backward....circles....forward....backward...circles...CRASH!!! 

I turned off the vacuum, and asked him if he was ok.  He proceeded to lay there on his tummy, face in the carpet, and didn't answer me.  I leaned down.  "Nate, are you ok?"  Then the carpet began giggling!  "Nate, did you have an accident?"  "No, Mommy!  Nate fall on purpose!" 

*(On a sidenote, we have been working for the past few weeks on the concepts of accidental vs. on purpose, so he knew very well what he was saying when he told me he fell on purpose.) *

He proceeded to get up, dust of his hands, and get back on his motorcycle.  No sooner did I made it back to the vacuum and flip on the power switch, and he did it again....and again....and again, literally THROWING himself off his motorcycle and onto the floor.  I turned off the vacuum again, and asked him what he was doing.  His response?  "Mommy, Nate falling." 

Then it hit me, silly as it may sound.  My two and a half year old son was learning a concept that so many of us never learn...he was teaching himself to fall, with joy!  Wow!  How often do we hit bumps and get thrown off our motorcycle of life, and stand up to joyfully exclaim, "I fall on purpose," and dust it off and do it again?  How often do we take life's bumps and bruises, and proclaim them to be a victory and a joy?  Or, instead, do we whine and moan, get angry with God, and proclaim, "I'm done!  I'm not doing this anymore!  This is TOO hard!" 

I was reminded of the command given in the New Testament book of James, which says that we should, "count it as joy when we face trials of many kinds."  Count it as joy?  That's what my son was doing.  He was teaching himself to fall...and counting it as joy. 

What an amazing lesson to learn!