Sunday, 20 January 2008
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Kid-friendly Theology
When I woke up Saturday morning, I noticed that my 5 year old Maggie had drawn a picture of a man on her chalkboard. Beside the picture was one word. "God."
I called Maggie and told her how much I loved it.
"Tell me about the picture, Maggie."
"Well... I was listening to some music this morning about God. And I decided to write a picture of Him so He could see."
Maggie is just beginning to ask more questions about God. The first time she asked about Him, she was lying in my lap looking up at me. The perfect scenario for my precious little girl to learn about God, I thought. But as soon as I started explaining in my very best kid-friendly theology, she became distracted. "Mom? Did you know that you have tiny hairs inside your nose?"
The second time she brought up God, we were only a couple sentences into the conversation, when she noticed triumphantly... "Ooh, look, Mom. I have lines on my toe."
Tonight we had just prayed and were still cuddling together in her bed, when she popped out another big question. "Mom, what happens when we die?"
This time we talked for about 10 minutes. She followed along, answering my questions ("Are you a sinner?") and asking some really good ones of her own. I didn't push a decision. I know she'd pray if I asked her to directly, but I, of course, want the decision to be of her own intiative.
We finished when her little attention quota had been filled, and I told her how much I enjoyed our conversation. Then we prayed again. This time asking Jesus to keep drawing her and to help her little mind and soul to embrace Him.
What simple, kid-friendly ways have you found to explain salvation to your children?
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Comments (4)
My son Nathaniel keeps asking questions too! He can get distracted: "Mommy did the baby Jesus know how to crawl?" LOL
I have had several opportunites to share with my son about salvation as he has asked questions or as opportunities arose. The best way, I found, to explain God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit, is to use an egg. I wanted him to understand the concept that even though Jesus was 100% man and human like us, he was also 100% God. Nathaniel seemed to get confused as to how Jesus had his 'Father in heaven' but was still God himself.
Using the egg as an analogy, I held it up and asked him what it was. "An egg" he said. I cracked it open and took out the yolk and whites. I put the shell back together (as much as I could). I asked him what it was, again. "An egg, mommy!" "Even though I took out the inside?" he hesitated and then said "yep". And I said "you are right!" But then I asked him to look at the yolk and the white in the bowl. What is that? he replied,"yucky stuff?" LOL
"Well, that is part of the egg too. Remember seeing mommy make scrambled eggs?"
"oooh, yes"
"When I cook this up and it's all yellow and goes on your plate, what do you call it?" "eggs!" "So when it is all together, it's an egg. When it is separated, it's an egg. When God made the world and spoke to Moses on the mountain and led Israel with the big fire and helped Jonah when he was in the whale... well, God was all together. He was in heaven. But then, God chose to separate himself. He took a part of himself, his only son, and sent him out of heaven, to earth, for us. He is the one who was born as a baby in the manger. He is the one who died for us on the cross. He is God's son, Jesus. And then there is another part of God that we don't talk about as much. But it is very important. (And then I separate the yolk from the white) God left His Holy Spirit for us. Anyone who believes on Jesus Christ and asks His forgiveness from their sins and asks Him to be Lord of their life not only gets to go to heaven and be with him some day, but they get to have God's Holy Spirit inside of us to guide us. You can't see the Holy Spirit. But it is part of God and this Holy Spirit will tell you in your head to do the right thing when you want to do a bad thing. Its God's Holy Spirit that helps us make right decisions. God took his son, Jesus back to heaven to be with Him. But he left the Holy Spirit here with us. One day, God will bring us all to heaven to be all together and be with Him. Then God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit will be all together once again."
Anyway, I think I made sense to my five year old. He seemed a little wary still of the Holy Spirit, but the egg analogy helped him understand the trinity and how baby Jesus could be God but there was still God the father in heaven.
Sorry this comment got so long! Hope it helped!
That is the best picture I have ever seen of God. Tell Maggie that.
Love it! My oldest is only three, so she's just now getting to the point where she's understanding and asking questions. The other day she said, "Mommy do you remember when Lorelei was a little baby and wrapped up like Baby Jesus?" LOL. I loved that.
I have found one easy way to get the conversation started is to talk about what she learned in church and to go over her Sunday School paper with her. That's all I've got for now. Oh, and I use every discipline time as a time to teach a verse and pray.
It seems to me that Maggie felt pretty close to God during that moment. How sweet! Teaching children about God is very much like us as adults...we learn more each time we meet with Him. He is hard to understand but little by little the pieces start fitting together. It is like an unending jigsaw puzzle that has no border....we start in the middle and work outward. Our picture of Him grows bigger and bigger and suddenly we realize that there more pieces to add. One day the picture will be complete. At least we will know what God looks like, because Jesus will be there. Then we will have the rest of eternity to become better acquainted.
Praying for the children and their spiritual walk is definitely vital, but equally important is praying with them so they hear us bring their needs before the Father's throne. That is what you did. I think Maggie already has a tender heart towards Him....Praise God!!