Jesus, His Dudes, and a Mermaid, Too...

Do you ever have those moments where you try to explain something spiritual to your child, only to have them turn it into something so outrageous that you wonder if they even got the point? Tonight, Courtney wanted me to read straight out of the Bible for her bedtime story. I opened up to the story about Jesus feeding the five thousand. If you're not familiar with the story, Jesus went to a mountainside. A large crowd was following Him. It was late, so He told the disciples they needed to feed the people. A boy had five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread, telling the disciples to start distributing it among the people. There were 5,000 men there, not to mention women and children. When everyone was full, they gathered 12 baskets full of leftovers. A miracle!

So after I read the Scripture, I re-told the story in 4 yr old terms, just to be sure she understood. As far as I could tell, she got it. Then she wanted to tell me a story:

"Jesus was a little guy, and all His dudes were playing outside. And then, they had five loaves of bread and two fish and everybody got to eat. And they all said 'YAHOO! YIPPEE! HOORAY!!'"

[Let me just say that at this point I was so proud- I thought "Wow! I think she's got it!" and then...]

All of a sudden, a mermaid came up. And an angel, too. And they had friends with them. The angel's friend was named David. And the mermaid's friend was named Ariel! And they all jumped into the water to get away from the tornado, 'cus it was coming fast! And they jumped into the water as fast as they could so they didn't get sucked up by the tornado."

*sigh*


         *giggle*

I love her imagination. It makes me wonder what God thought of her alternate ending to the story? Children are so creative. They come up with the most amazing things. I imagine that God laughs along with us and listens wholeheartedly, knowing that someday soon they will understand things. From the outside, it would seem that children are lost in a crazy, self-centered fantasy world (and to some extent, perhaps they are). But I believe God uses these formative years to teach them how to have faith. It reminds me of the second half of 1 Samuel 16:7

                      "The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

The more I hear my daughter talk about Jesus, the more I know that she understands more than she can articulate. Somewhere deep inside is a realization of God's reality and certainty of His love for her. I am so glad that God sees the hearts of children- and He loves them so dearly. God, help me to see my children's hearts through Your eyes- instead of just focusing on what I can see on the outside.