But I don't think He's grading on a curve....

"I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased..."
1 Chronicles 29:17

I heard God through my son today.  It happens frequently with my kids.  I think I'm so aware of the fact that while I'm a mother, I'm also a daughter to God, that sometimes when I'm giving them a share of my hard-earned wisdom, I can hear God saying it to me at the same time.  Which is to say, I'm seeing how He applies it to something going on my life, or how a truth of math or friendship or chores also applies spiritually.

Case in point:    AB (Amazing Boy) came out and asked me if he could, essentially, cheat on his math homework.  He didn't think of it as cheating, though, cuz he's not that kind of kid.  He just thought of it as speeding up the work.  And who's not all for that, right?   He was supposed to identify numbers as being either prime or composite, and then if they were composite, tell me what the factors are.  (Or as we call them, the "ingredients".)   And he wanted to use the multiplication table, that grid standby, and if a number wasn't on there, he'd know it was prime.  But I told him, no, the point is for him to figure out if it's prime or not.  And I reminded him of the "tests" to see if a number is divisible.  Is it even, does it end with a 0 or a 5, etc.  So off he goes, grumbling slightly, but with a "well, I gave it a shot" grin....

Several minutes later, I went in to see how he was doing.  He had about half of them done, and he looked up at me and said in a very down voice, "I'm not doing great with these...."  So I sat down next to him and checked what he had done so far:  "Right.... right... right... right.... right.... right.... right!"  And in a totally different voice, he said, "I'm doing perfect with these!"

As I walked out of his room laughing, I thought maybe sometimes God wants me to know that I'm doing pretty well, too.  I would never have given AB this homework if I didn't know he was ready for it.  Doesn't mean it's not going to be hard, but I know he can do it.  Schoolwork is all about being not too easy, and not too hard, isn't it?  Well, I think that's how God is, too.   That's what He gives us.  Not so easy we wouldn't grow stronger from it, but not so hard it crushes us.

But what struck me today was the thought that He's pleased with me more often than I know.  When we really want to do well on something, then all we see are our errors.  And I'm working on something that doesn't feel like it's going well, but He's got the answers, and He can tell already that I'm gonna score pretty well on this particular test.   And if I would check with Him more often, instead of trying to grade myself, when I don't have the Answer Key, I just might hear that from Him.