The Imitation of Christ

Calm in Me First

Your brother is loud.

He bangs the blocks.

You shout, Stop it!

Now there are two loud voices.

Calm in me first.

You want to fix him.

But your own hands are poking.

Your own mouth is shouting.

Start with the one you can reach.

That one is you.

Calm in me first.

Calm is easy with a quiet friend.

Calm is hard with a loud brother.

The hard one counts the most.

Calm in me first.

Hold your hands still.

Make your voice low.

It is hard. You may still feel mad.

Feeling mad is okay.

You can still pick a calm hand.

Calm in me first.

Now you can sit by him.

Now you can say, Let’s build one.

Maybe he gets calm too.

Maybe he stays loud.

You cannot make his calm.

You can only make yours.

Say it with me.

Calm in me first.

Then go sit by him.

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: this is Book II, chapter 3 of The Imitation of Christ (Thomas à Kempis, c. 1420): keep yourself in peace first, and then you can make peace for others; a peaceable person does more good than a learned one. The misreading to watch is magic control: your child’s calm does not oblige the brother to calm down, and the primer says so. The book’s peace rests on God, which this page leaves to you.

Do It, Not Just Say It

You know the word kind.

You can spell the word share.

That is good to know.

But knowing is not doing.

Do it, not just say it.

Your friend falls down.

You could say, That looks sad.

Or you could help her up.

Which one helps her knee?

Do it, not just say it.

You know a story about sharing.

You can tell the whole story.

Now there is one apple left.

Give your friend half.

Do it, not just say it.

You knock over a tower.

You can say sorry.

Saying sorry is good.

Now help build it back up.

The doing makes the sorry true.

Do it, not just say it.

Some days you forget.

You say the nice word.

You do not do the nice thing.

That happens to everyone.

You can do it next time.

Say it with me.

Do it, not just say it.

Who can you help today?

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: from Book I, chapters 1 and 3. At the end, it says, we will be asked not what we have read but what we have done. The misreading to watch is that words don’t matter, so the child skips the sorry. Keep both: the word, then the deed that makes it true.

Meet It at the Door

A want comes knocking.

Knock, knock.

It wants your sister’s cookie.

It is little now.

Meet it at the door.

Wanting is not bad.

Everyone hears the knock.

Big people hear it too.

The knock is not your fault.

Meet it at the door.

Little wants are easy to stop.

Say, Not now, little want.

Keep your hand in your lap.

Meet it at the door.

If you let it in, it grows.

First you just peek at the cookie.

Then you think how good it tastes.

Then your hand starts to reach.

Now the want sits down. It gets big.

Big wants are hard to move.

Meet it at the door.

Sometimes it gets in anyway.

That is okay. Try again.

Next time, listen for the knock.

Say it with me.

Meet it at the door.

Where are your hands right now?

A note for the grown-up

For the grown-up reading aloud: from Book I, chapter 13, which says a temptation is most easily mastered if it is met outside the door as soon as it has knocked, and that no one is ever wholly free of temptation. The misreadings to watch are that wanting is bad and that a good child always wins. The book says the opposite of both: the knock comes to everyone, and the winning comes little by little.