It was a Friday, the first Friday of first grade at my daughter's new school. As usual, Madison's teacher walked her to our car. But not quite as usual was the fact that the teacher wanted to talk with me. "Madison hasn't been doing her work," the teacher said. "She gets distracted and daydreams." This was especially troubling because the school required self-motivation in its teaching method. The teacher explained that my daughter needed to finish that week's class work over the weekend. And she had to do it by herself, with no help from her father or from me.
Not doing her work was a long-standing problem for Madison—at home, in school, and even with her extracurricular activities. Despite all of her intelligence and talent, my daughter just didn't seem to have any motivation. We'd hoped that this new school would help. But now I was beginning to think that nothing would. My heart sank. I started to question the choices we'd made, our parenting skills, even the likelihood of Madison having a successful future. Most of all, I wondered, "Why can't she just be obedient?"
Then, in the middle of this frustration and fear, I thought of God. In the weeks before this, I had been learning more and more about God as good itself—the Truth of all being, the Principle which makes man, His sons and daughters, in His image and likeness. This understanding of God turned my thought naturally to Him for guidance in the face of this situation. "Is this outside of the realm of Truth?" came clearly to me. No, I realized. It wasn't. Since Truth, or God, is infinite and unchangeable, that would be impossible. This helped to calm me down. I could see that God was present and that both my daughter and I were one with Him. I knew that Madison is God's child, His expression, and that means she is focused and purposeful. These qualities are hers to reflect now and forever. They weren't left out of her being.
