Let the Little Children Come to Me

Big Bro's reached the age of asking hard questions. I struggle to answer them, but somehow he understands. I really think children are more spiritually attuned, although not able to clearly communicate this. I'm starting to get why Jesus said "The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."

The other day he was captivated by a dead seal on the beach. He watched it a long time. He asked what would happen to it, and I told him it would go to live with Jesus in heaven. I'm fairly sure this is not the case, at least not exactly, but it seems to be a reasonable answer for little guys. They're spiritually sensitive, not theologically trained.

He has asked about it so often over the past week, the questions blur into each other. "Does God like doggies?" Yes, God made doggies and he loves them. "Does God love seals?" Yes, God made seals too and loves them. "Does God love stinky dead seals?" Well, when the seal goes to heaven it's not stinky or dead anymore. At some point in my lame translation of supernatural into natural, the seal, now invisible, lived in heaven with big, invisible Jesus, although the seal's body stayed in the ocean.

At some point, he wanted to know how God had died. (It didn't take me long to figure out why he thought God had died - everyone else in heaven had died.) I chased myself in circles on this one, and finally Big Bro explained it to me as simply as only a child could: "Heaven is just God's home." Yes. Thank you. He understands in spite of my explanations.

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