Last night I was putting Alex to bed, and when it was time to say prayers, he informed me that he was not interested in any prayer-saying, thankyouverymuch.
“Oh, Alex” I said, “you want to make sure you say your prayers. God made everything that we love, everything that we enjoy, so letting Him know that we’re thankful for those things is always the right thing to do. We want to have thankful hearts because thankful hearts honor God.”
The little man agreed with me and bowed his head – but I got all caught up in the teachable moment, so I kept going:
“Alex, did you know that God is your Heavenly Father? That He’s our Daddy in heaven? Kind of like a Big Daddy?”
Alex shook his head and said, “No, Mama. Daddy is on the couch. In the living room. Where is heaven?”
“Heaven is way up in the sky, higher up than the stars or the sun or the moon, even.”
“And Daddy’s way up in the sky?”
“No, buddy. Daddy’s in the living room, on the couch, just like you said. He’ll be in here in just a minute. God – who is your Heavenly Father – is in heaven, way up in the sky.”
“OOOOH, I get it, Mama. God lives in a spaceship!!!”
Clearly I have missed my calling in terms of teaching small children.
This is just too precious!!! My husband teaches 3rd & 4th graders on Sundays, and he has a ton of stories like this. My favorite: He was teaching about when we all get to Heaven and are standing around the Throne, and throw our crowns of righteousness at Jesus’ feet. One little 4th grader told Ross he didn’t think he would throw his crown, because he had such bad aim he was afraid he would hit Jesus.
Amen sister! The kids have put me through the same circles … except now as teens they are smarter and ask harder questions- if there is such a thing. Ugh …
That is a good one. I have had more moments than I care to recall where the ability to explain these kinds of things has completely escaped me. But it does make me glad that God is beyond whatever explanation I could give.
That boy is a cutie.
(And can you let us all know how that night alone in the house by yourself with no one else around went?)
That’s my boy! :)
I do teach Sunday school, but I had a similar moment last week. I thought we had a great lesson on the plagues. The children were so interested (gross bugs, death and destruction are always fun for first and second graders). When we reviewed, I asked for someone to tell me about the ninth plague. One little girl raised her hand and said, “God turned out all the electricity and none of the light switches worked!” All the other students nodded in agreement. I guess I hadn’t explained it as well as I thought! Of course, they were even more amazed to learn that God made it so that the SUN didn’t work!
Thanks for you GREAT blog. I enjoy reading it so much!
That is just precious. Now he’ll want to be an astronaut.
Kids are just too much! I love to hear their logic sometimes. :) Precious!
I just found your blog after seeing your awards on CWO (Congratulations). I have really enjoyed reading all of your posts, but this one speaks to my heart. It’s good to know that others have these same painful conversations with their children. I just don’t understand the way those tiny brains work. Thanks for sharing!
Well, in all fairness Alex’s idea of heaven may be to live in a spaceship.
Out of the mouths of babes! Gotta love it.
Kids are nothing if not literal. LOL!! That’s too cute.
I love those kind of conversations with my kids…I am trying to explain some biblical truth,like how sin causes all of us to deserve death, and we end the conversation with yes,mommy will die one day but I will be in heaven with God…yes, sweetie…I am getting older,no I am not a grandma yet…mommy,what are those lines on your forehead????
Oh,well,we tried didn’t we?
What a cute conversation. I’m not sure who came out on top of this one though. That’s one smart little boy! I truly cannot wait to read your conversations in oh, say, about ten years!
Such a cute story. BTW- someday you WILL be teaching Sunday School. Maybe under duress, like me, but you’ll probably be coerced at some point. My kids are 7 and 10, so my statute of limitations for avoiding the issue ran out this fall. Just a “heads up” for you.
:)
My son and I had a similar conversation in the kitchen just this morning. Even though he’s my third, I still feel the same urgency to get it right, to make it so he can understand, that I did with my other two. The other moms are right – the hard questions will be here sooner than I’d like!
LOL does he know about the stargate yet?