Big Sissy is starting to ask a lot of questions about God. I feel like I know something about God. I have a master's degree in knowing something about God, but I still feel at a loss about how to explain things to a toddler. I want her to know that God is all-powerful but not exactly in a super-hero way. I want her to know that God is loving but bad things still happen. I want her to understand His grace without taking advantage of it. These are hard concepts even for adults, but here's the way it plays out with us.
Q: Can God lift up our house? Wouldn't that be so cool?
A: (all in my head) I'm stumped because God is strong enough to lift up our house, but if he does, we're probably in the middle of a tornado or hurricane. That's not so cool. But if I say no, then she thinks God isn't strong enough/cool enough to do it. We've already told her that God is bigger and stronger than anything.
Q: God made the doorknobs and the bouncy seat, right?
A: (all in my head) I'm stumped because we've already told her that God made the whole world and everything in it. The doorknob and the bouncy seat are in the category of "things in the world," but God didn't make them. Sure, he made the raw materials and the engineers and gave them their brain so they could figure out how to design them and make a living doing so, but he didn't actually do that. If I say no, I'm contradicting the first premise. If I say yes, I'm not really telling the truth.
Q: Do bugs go to heaven?
A: (all in my head) I'm stumped because I don't believe bugs have a soul, therefore once we squish them that is just the end of their life. But she already knows the 2 alternatives when we die are heaven or hell. If I say no, she thinks she's sending all these bugs to hell. If I say yes, I'm not really telling the truth.
Sometimes when she asks me these hard questions, I just do what any other caring, intelligent, Christian woman would do. I pretend I didn't hear her. I'm praying for wisdom to answer her at the right time and at the right level. Sometimes I just don't know the answers! She's already getting too smart for me.
2 comments:
You're over-thinking yourself. Children do a great job of handling the truth, as long as it's presented in an age-appropriate manner. My guess is that she's asking because God is preparing her little heart for more -- more knowledge of Him, more Truth, more understanding of His ways. It's amazing how perceptive little people are to the things of God. We adults are the ones that make it hard.
LOL--that could easily have been a conversation between me and Ariana. I like Saundra's answer, too.
Post a Comment