Tuesday, February 5, 2008

A Dose of Humility

A few years ago, Jocelyn gave me a holy water font for Christmas. Since then, we've tried to get our kids in the habit of frequently blessing themselves with holy water.

Last night, five-year old Teresa got some holy water from the font with her left hand, and I gently reminded her that we're supposed to use our right hand.

"Why do we use our right hand?"

Caught off-guard and honestly not knowing the answer, I had to admit as much: "You know, Teresa, that's a really good question. I don't know why."

To which she deadpanned with the unique innocence of a five-year old: "I thought you were smart."

Coming on the eve of Lent, this was a welcome dose of humility for me.

[Cross-posted at Catholic Dads]

3 comments:

chestertonian said...

LOL John! Gotta love kids! :-)

Anonymous said...

Funny :-) But also a reminder of how children really look up to their parents. One dad I know commented recently that he seems like a superhero to his kids -- except he knows he is really not a superhero :-)

Unknown said...

Very sweet, John. Thanks for sharing. My little Hannah is becoming very talkative. I love what she has to say!

Did you look into which hand you should use? Is it the right only? What about lefties?

Guess I have the curiosity of a five year old.