The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Posted on: Tuesday, December 25th, 2007Comments: 0
Motivate your children to succeed!
One of my greatest day-to-day challenges is watching my children suffer through…well, anything. I know that there is great value in the obstacles we all face in life. Maybe more value than in the pleasures. Some of us might even be bold enough to say that life’s obstacles are the greatest gifts from God. It’s these that shape us into good men and women. Men and women who are kind, empathetic, courageous, selfless, and maybe even the kind of men and women who do the right thing no matter what the consequences.
But, how do you tell that to an eight-year-old? How do you tell an eight-year-old who is being tormented by classmates for wearing glasses that their suffering will pay off one day? How do you tell a seven-year-old who lost her hamster or dog or brother that in years to come they will be thankful for this experience? How do you provide a long view to someone who has only been on the planet for a few years?
Well, I read a book with my daughters recently that has helped me to do that very thing. The book is called, “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.” It’s written by Kate DiCamillo (I don’t know her). Not only is it well written and fun to read, but it has proven to be an invaluable tool to help my children understand this hard-to-understand concept.
The book begins with an arrogant and self-centered china rabbit named Edward Tulane. Throughout the book, Edward experiences many, many challenges. He is tormented, smashed, and even dropped into the bottom of the ocean. Throughout his life, his difficult experiences…his suffering…shapes him. He becomes a kind, compassionate, and loving rabbit.
Within a few nights, my girls were able to see the benefits of life’s obstacles. They were able to walk with Edward as life spit in his face, and see his amazing transformation.
A few days ago, I was discussing the plight of the poor with my daughters. One of them asked me how God could make people go through that? Honestly, I was struggling to come up with a simple way of explaining that to them (since I’m not completely sure myself), when one of my other daughters said, “Edward Tulane, right dad? God’s shaping them, right?” This from the mouth of an eight-year-old.
We talked about this for almost 20 minutes (anyone with 7 and 8 year olds knows that this is a long time). I was able to explain that God will shape us all throughout life, and the same thing could happen to us. We could become poor. We could suffer. We could (and do) face challenges in life. And that’s okay. It doesn’t mean God is mad at us or hates us or isn’t paying attention. Just the opposite. It takes a lot of love to watch someone you love suffer through situations that they NEED to suffer through, and not step in to make it go away.
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