My little Rex is so very interesting. For starters, he’s not so little. He’s ten and tall and crazy handsome with his blond hair and golden skin and all those dimples. But hey, looks don’t get you into Heaven.
We have found that when it comes to our daily family scripture study, Rex has a hard time conceptualizing gospel concepts. He’s super high functioning with his Autism but this is one of the areas that really stumps him. For instance, you can say, “Rex fill in the blank. ‘I am a child of _____.” He will say, “Uh…God?” then you’ll give him a high five.
But if you say, “Rex, fill in the blank. ‘Before we came to Earth we lived in…” he will say, “Uh…God?”
He’s got one, sometimes two answers for everything. Mostly it’s going to be ‘God.’ We try to word things so that he feels successful at scripture study. Like, “Rex, who do we pray to?” or “Rex, who loves you the most?” or “Rex, who’s name should we never say in vain?” That way his standard answer is always the right one.
Anything else kind of sails past him.
This past week during morning devotional we’ve been talking about the Godhead, how it’s made up of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, and how they’re three different people. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…Each day we reviewed scriptures and went around so the kids could tell us this very basic tenant of the Gospel.
“Harry,” Jason said on Wednesday, “Who’s in the Godhead?”
“Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.”
“Good,” he moved on. “June, who’s in the Godhead?”
“Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.”
“Awesome!” Jason looked at Georgia, “Georgia? Who’s in the Godhead?”
“Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost.”
Jason looked at me and I crossed my fingers. “Rex?” he said, “Who are the three people in the Godhead?”
“Uh…” I watched him as he tried to unravel this question. “God?”
“Yes! That’s one,” Jason said, “Who else?” We all sat waiting and I quickly shushed Georgia and June before they jumped in and talked over him.
“Oh…uh…Jesus?” Yes! Two for two, so fantastic. I know this is easy for so many kids but for Rex, keeping him focussed sometimes is a challenge.
“One more, Rex,” Jason said. “Who’s the last person?”
“Oh, uh,” He said, his little blond brow furrowed.”Hmm…let’s see here. How about…”
I sat on the edge of my seat, literally crossing my fingers–
“Satan?”
Satan. And there it is. Teaching the Gospel to Rex. He is honestly the most delightful, most tender person I’ve ever known. Bless his darling little heart. At least he knows who loves him.