James

I received one of the nicest compliments about James this past Sunday. He had two male teachers as substitutes for his primary class and one of them was President Belnap (for those of you who know who he is). For those of you who don't know who he is, he is a former stake president, bishop, and counselor in the Boise Mission, and current high councilor. The man is intense and honestly intimidates me a bit. He looks and talks like a general authority and, even though I don't know him well at all, I respect him a lot. Anyway, as soon as Primary was over (I happened to be in there because James was giving the closing prayer in closing exercises), President Belnap made a beeline for me and then told me how impressed he was with my boy. He said James gave very deep, thoughtful answers when questions were asked, he sat very quietly and raised his hand. When he asked the class what their favorite story of Jesus was, James said, "When he died on the cross." President Belnap said that James explained and understood doctrine better than some adults. WOW! That was really amazing to hear from someone with an outside perspective. It made me think about a lesson I gave a while ago in Relief Society about how we bring spiritual gifts with us from the premortal world. I have always felt that one of James' inherent gifts is his ability to comprehend the doctrines of the gospel. I'm not really sure how to explain it but I'm sure all of you mothers out there feel the same way about your children's special gifts. James is a ponderer and will randomly ask me deep questions about the atonement and stories from the scriptures. His simple faith strengthens my testimony and faith and keeps me going when I really want to be weak.