Aidan, Spencer and Jake in deep conversation.
“Nothing can do ANYTHING!” Aidan, age 6, said in a very heated fashion.
“God can!!” Jake, age 4, replied with confidence.
“Yeah, that’s right”, Spencer, age 6, jumped into the conversation.
Aidan said “God is not a person.”
“God is a soul” replied Spencer.
Jake interjected, “He’s right there next to you.”
Spencer dramatically said, “Aidan you just stepped on God.”
“Yeah but I stepped on Him in a good way, I didn’t hurt Him.” replied Aidan in a very solemn voice.
“But he doesn’t make a sound” said Jake.
In a very quiet, knowledgeable whisper Spencer said, “The only way you can hear Him is in your thoughts.”
“I am going to blow up a tank now” Aidan said as the conversation jolted to an end.
Listening to my children and Aidan, a child I babysit, have a conversation about God when they thought no one was listening was spelling binding to me. Frantically I was jotting down exactly what was said, I did not want to misquote anyone. Have you ever heard your child talk about God? Not when prompted to about homework, church or while praying? Well this was my first time and I was so proud I thought I was going to bust!
You can never be sure of exactly what is absorbed into those little sponge like brains or if everything you try to teach them just bounces off into oblivion. Then you hear it, what you have been trying to teach them for years and it’s as though you can sigh with relief, they get it, they really get it!
Have you ever overheard a conversation between your child and one of their friends, when you literally heard a quote from yourself being used in a positive manner? For instance “I would not want to jump off a bridge because all my friends do, I am my own person.” There is nothing that can compare. If our children actually listen, take in the information and then truly practice it… it’s like it was all worth it, all 300 times I said that. Because it is worth it. There will be countless times we will never see the end result of what we have tried so hard to teach our children. So many times they will be put in situations when they will recall our voices and use that lesson from us to stay safe, and we will never know it. Seldom will be the times we will ever see it come to fruition but for the one time we do we should embrace the moment, savor the second and let it inspire us to continue on our path of loving, teaching and showing our children the right direction. It works even if we never see it, it is so well worth the time and effort it takes to help our children to grow, mature and develop into responsible, generous, loving, faithful adults and it is in good part because of the parenting we administer, all the grunt work, the commitment and dedication for our children.
Never stop teaching, loving, guiding and nurturing your children even when you feel like they have not heard a word. Because one day you may be privy to a conversation I just overheard. One that revealed to me my children believe that God is there, God is invincible and God talks with them, they believe for themselves. They have faith – there is nothing more important than that to me; for my children to truly accept and believe in than God’s relationship with them, that God is a reality!
I love this post! I cannot wait to hear my kids talk about God. Every day I pray that they would want to do God’s will and that they would accept Jesus in their hearts as their Lord and Savior.
I have this vision that on my judgment day God will allow me to view my whole life and I will know and claim my judgment – God won’t have to say a word.
I often ask groups if they were to die this very moment do they know if they would go to heaven, very few say YES. The ticket to heaven is their love for God, and if we love God, we have entrance into heaven, how big our “mansion” is depends on how much we love God, hopefully more each day.
Merry Christmas! Jan and family
I love the reminder to never stop teaching and loving your kids, even when you don’t think they are listening! Such a great blog you have here. 🙂
Very funny – nice to bring back as I missed this the first time around. My kids used to play “Church” and would say “Body of Price” when pretending to give each other Communion. I laughed at the irony of that. A price certainly was paid for the body of Jesus. Thank God he gave his body for us!