Suh-Buh-Suh

Last Sunday it was time for Adelaide's little church class ("sunbeams") to participate in the opening exercises of Primary. One child will give a prayer, two children will give talks and one will share a scripture.

It was Adelaide's turn to share a scripture. We chose Matthew 18:4.

Now whoever said, "Not everything is a competition" must have lost a lot. Everything is a competition. In this case its not against the other child. Its each child against themselves as to whether or not they can overcome their own personalities. Shy kids might whisper, silly kids will giggle and Adelaide, well Adelaide is a wild card. And on this day she chose to play the stubborn front.

She and I walked up to the pulpit and I opened the Bible. I said the first word of the verse in her ear. She folded her arms tilted her head up and looked off into the opposite direction from which I was standing. So I tried again, and again she turned with a "hmpf". Adelaide was not winning this competition. I had to try something else.

So I said, "Addie. Look. A microphone."

Slowly she turned her head to face the front. She took the mic in her two little hands and gently spoke. The first word was her own name. It was a barely audible whisper:

"Addie."

I think in that moment she realized where she was. She had an audience. They were waiting for her. It was her words and her message they wanted to hear. Summoning all her courage and her might she followed her name with a slightly more audible but still humble delivery:

"Suh-Buh-Suh"

That was it. Her message to her people was delivered and she warmed up with a smile and a sense of accomplishment. For those who don't know "suh-buh-suh" is her made up word she uses when she doesn't know what to say. Like when I ask her why she rubbed her macaroni and cheese in her hair, or why she is wearing her bikini swim suit in January, or why she pulls the sheets off of my bed to jump on the bare mattress, she will reply, "Because Addie suh-buh-suh".

After her break through with the microphone Adelaide read with me the rest of her little scripture. Its a sweet verse that talks about the humility of a child. I couldn't help but feel that her humility won out in that moment against her stubbornness (wonder where she gets that?).

And to describe it I would only say, "Davey suh-buh-suh."