Kids Say the Darnest Things...

Pretty much every day, all day, every where, my daughter asks questions.  Sometimes they are ridiculous and just because she likes hearing herself talk.

Like, "Momma, what does 'feel better, feel better' mean?"  Which was the follow up question to, "Momma, what does 'feel better' mean?"  Cause she clearly doesn't know.  

My response?  Aubrey Kate, that's not a thoughtful question.  

Okay, that's not true.  It was really, "Girly, I'm not answering that."

With a "You're just talking to hear yourself talk" quickly following it.

Sometimes I just need to call a spade a spade and move on.

But there are some rare occasions, oh so rare, when she asks a legit question.

Like yesterday.

"Momma, how do we get to heaven?"

"Is God real?"

"Is the bible true?"

Now look, I know my daughter well enough to know she's not that inquisitive.  What she is, though, is attached to her little baby bible she got when we dedicated her.  She found it in her dresser drawer and has been taking it everywhere.  

(Please don't Jesus Juke me by applauding her and asking why we adult Christians don't carry our bibles around everywhere we go.)  

(Just don't.)

I am assuming she mentioned her bible to someone in the Kid's Club at the gym and that person asked her those questions.  

Also assuming she didn't have answers and that left me to answer them for her.

Because although we read our bibles and pray and talk about Jesus a lot around here, we haven't really started touching on those sorts of life altering questions.  The questions all believers and non-believers have asked themselves at some point in their lives.  

These are, as we all know, gateway questions for things like predestination, intelligent design and the horrible, if God is good, then why (fill in the blank)?  I'm not really ready to answer those questions yet.  Not because I don't have some answers or guidance or experiences to share but really because SHE'S THREE.

Pumpkin is smart.  She's pretty observant too.  So when someone asks her these questions, she wants to know her answers.  Those are what God put me here to give her.  

I answered the questions.  She seemed okay with them.  But not settled entirely.  I could see her staring off processing them in her 47 month old brain.  So I added, "Aubrey Kate, I know God is real and true and good because He gave us you.  You, Little One, are the miracle we prayed and waited for.  God loved me by giving me you."

And she looked back at me and said, "YEAH!"

That she understands.  

These questions she asked are pretty simple at this point in her life.  But as she grows and learns the horrors of sin, she will ask them again.  And again.  And again.  

My prayer is simply that God will continue to prompt me to teach her, show her, guide her so when she asks these questions for herself, not for someone else, she will find the answers in The Word, in her heart, in her faith and in her experiences with us as a family of Jesus-followers.  I pray the legacy created for her will continue through her.