Diligence

My 8 year old son has been preparing for his baptism. Several months ago, he was asked to come up with 3 goals for school. One of the things he chose was to read the Book of Mormon before his baptism. This was a pretty ambitious goal since it is about 530 pages and he'd read way under 100. He tried to read at least 1 chapter every night, but it didn't always happen. About 4 months ago, I told him he needed to make a decision. If he was going to reach his goal, he'd need to start reading 2 chapters a day. I tried to be as uninfluential as I could about it. He thought for less than a minute and said he still wanted to do it. And he wanted to read a bunch of chapters right then and there. About 2 months ago, I realized that he didn't know how to accomplish this goal unless I provided the structure for it. I went to a website, typed in his current spot and his target end date, and printed it out. He'd need to read about 6 pages each day. I wouldn't have been surprised had he decided to change his mind at that point....he didn't. He was determined. He finished yesterday, 2 days ahead of schedule.
When it comes to religion and my kids, I am sometimes torn. I want to teach them about sin and its consequences. But I'm also hesitant sometimes about how I'm influencing them in their choices. They are at an age where they like to please me. They want me to be pleased with them. I worry about them making religious and moral decisions, not because they know it is the right thing to do, but because they think it will make me happy. I don't want that. I want them to feel the Holy Spirit working within them. I want them to make good choices for the right reasons. My brother thinks that my son read it because I'm molding him. I really don't know if that is the case though. I didn't want him to do it to make me happy, I didn't want him to do it so everyone would think I'm a great mother, I didn't want him to do it if HE didn't want it.
But he did. He truly wanted to do it. To me, that is a testament of its truthfulness. Why else would a child be so determined and diligent? I know that he could feel the Holy Spirit testify to him as he read. Last night when he came down to announce that he was done, his face was filled with joy. He wanted to call everyone and tell them. The first thing he said when he woke up this morning was, "Remember how I finished the Book of Mormon?"
This was a good experience for me. I had to make his goal a priority in order for him to accomplish it. Almost every morning, we'd put school on the back burner while we read a chapter together. I had committed with a group of women to read the Book of Mormon by the end of April. I had to make the decision to put that goal aside and help Carston instead. I didn't want to push him to do it, but I realized he could not accomplish it on his own if I didn't offer support.
I hope that this experience has served to strengthen his testimony. I hope that he will continue to study his scriptures and gain the strength that God knows he needs. I feel so blessed to know that God can always guide me as I try my best to help my kids in the ways that they need.