Ladybugs and Earthworms

It is hard to believe it has been a week since I've posted.  May is not going to win my internal contest for most posts in a month.  This is the longest I've gone since I started blogging;  I would say that means I'm getting a better balance on blog land versus my real life, but I have been posting on my photography blog.  It isn't that I don't have as much to say, but I have had more face to face conversations making the need to post a little less urgent.  However, there is one story I don't want to ever forget and SnapDragon said I could share it.

My SnapDragon has really strong feelings when he sees things that are sad or people hurting.  This can overwhelm him at times as he feels their pain so acutely.  In an effort to give him some tools to handle this I've gotten some advice from people.  One thing suggested was to remind him that God made him this way for a purpose and that feeling sad for someone can be a reminder to pray.  The other day while he was sitting on my lap and the other kids were already in bed, I decided to try this out.

"Are you happy?"
"Yeah."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."  (His feeling others' pain sometimes means he is unhappy himself, so maybe I worry a bit.)
"You know how you are so good at compassion?"
"Yeah."
"Did you know God made you this way on purpose, that there is reasons for it?"
"Yeah."
"What do you think one of those reasons might be?"

Silence...

"I know.  It's kind of a silly reason."
"Oh?  What is it?"
"So I won't kill the lucky things."

What popped into my head was the image that without compassion SnapDragon would just go around on a killing spree and so would everyone else, so I was momentarily quite horrified.  It is always good to ask clarifying questions.

"What do you mean?"
"Well, ladybugs are lucky and if I didn't have compassion I would kill them."  (We have never talked about the "luck" that some associate with ladybugs; he got that from his friends at school.  But this now officially makes this an adoption post.)

Well, I refuse to pray for bugs, so we continued on with our conversation.  He also thinks God made him compassionate so he "won't hit people and will care for people in harm."  This led to a deeper, more personal conversation and prayer for a friend.

My husband was in the room clipping SnapDragon's toe nails during the conversation.  I asked him what he thought later.  He said, "Makes me glad I haven't given him more guff when he makes me not step on the earthworms."

Really, who would step on earthworms anyway.  It is gross.  It rains a lot here, so I'm always watching my feet.