I never thought I'd be having the GOD discussion with Lee when she isn't even four. Wow....this stuff is hard. I mean, I don't even know what I believe, how can I answer her questions?
It all started with death. Lee's been a bit death-obsessed on and off since Little Cat died last spring. Today she was playing make-believe games that involved dying and, of course, "undying." She wanted to talk about bodies and what happens to them when we drove by the cemetery today.
Tonight she wanted to read a book of bible stories (a baptism gift). We reached the Easter story and the questions started. The fact that Jesus' body was put in a cave fascinated her. I explained that bodies are burned or buried or put away because they rot (like a bruise on a banana or sour milk) and aren't healthful. We talked about the cycle of life. I asked her to think about the old tree stump in our yard that is turning into dirt ("why doesn't it smell?") and how new plants will eventually grow in that dirt.
Here is just a sample of questions that followed:
"What happens to me after I die?"
"Will I come back as a plant?"
"Who made God? You told me that you and Daddy made me."
"When was God a baby?"
"Where is God? Can I meet him? When?"
and my favorite: "Was God a stump?"
1 comment:
"For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know, even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians 13:12 (21st Century King James Version).
Those are great questions, and the good news is that she will probably grapple with most of them all her life (except for the questions about God-the-stump and reincarnation as a plant, I imagine). Of course, now I'm curious how you answered her questions.... and of course I can't help thinking of how I would (or do) answer them:
What happens to me after I die? We live in hope that we will be reunited with God and our loved ones who have died; exactly how this happens is mysterious to us and we also hope to put off finding it out first-hand as long as possible.
Will I come back as a plant? Our bodies will eventually nourish the soil and nourish plants, but we do not become plants.
Who made God? No one! Unlike humans - and all things we know in the material world - who have a beginning, a middle, and an end, God simply is. So we say that God has always existed, and he made all things directly or indirectly. Somehow he is beyond time or place, the beginning of all beginnings (the first and the last, the alpha and the omega). Again, very mysterious.
When was God a baby? When he chose to come down to the earth and dwell among us as Jesus of Nazareth - well over 2000 years ago. But that was not God's beginning - he has always existed.
Where is God? Can I meet him? When? We say that God is in heaven, but that's not a physical location we can go to. And maybe it's just a way of saying that being with God is a really good thing. We also say that God is always with us, even though we cannot see or hear or feel him; his spirit and his guidance are always available to us in some mysterious way. As far as meeting him, and when, see the answer to #1 above!!
Was God a stump? Hmmm, You tell me. What do YOU think?
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