God Did That! More Lessons From My Daughter
2007
As we were driving home a couple of days ago, my 2.75 year old daughter made a wonderful observation. Here’s how the conversation went:
A.: God did that!
Mommy: God did what?
A.: God painted the sky.
Mommy: God painted the sky?
A.: God painted the sky blue! I’m gonna call God!
My daughter then opened her cellphone (it is an actual phone that our cellphone provider gave her the last time we upgraded phones) and said,
A.: God, did you paint the sky blue? Oh…okay!
She then gave Him her phone number (yes, she does know my husband cellphone number and uses it as her own), and said,
A.: I’ll call you back…bye!
The entire discourse probably lasted less than 30 seconds, but those 30 seconds made me feel so incredibly warm and filled. I am pleased that my daughter feels so comfortable knowing she can call up God anytime she wants and talk about whatever she wants. It’s that childlike approach to God that exudes a confident humility adults so often lack when going before Him. That is, we sometimes approach Him with “thee’s” and “thou’s,” language common in the 17th century, but not the 21st century (don’t we understand He knows we don’t speak King James English?) We sometimes don’t believe we know how to approach God, so we don’t. We sometimes don’t approach God at all – out of fear.
But what if we had this childlike attitude? What if, when we saw something in our world that makes us catch our breath we said, “Wow, God, thank you for that.” What if, when we had a problem, we’d say, “I’m gonna call God,” and proceed to really do it. What if, when we know God worked something out that we had no idea what to do with that we said, “I acknowledge, Lord, you did that for me…thank you.” What if we did all that, and afterward said, as my daughter said that day, “I’ll call you back…bye!”
I know that if I regularly had this attitude, I would see things in my world much differently than I sometimes do – for the better. I’m working on it.
What about you?
Out of the mouths of babes…Isn’t it great what children can teach us?
7 comments
Trackback e pingback
-
ModernMusings.com | Transferred Thinkers and Delayed Awards Ceremony
[...] footsteps. She finds time to enlighten her readers while caring for her apple of a husband, and her brilliant ...
Hi,
Another great post!
You are so right, although I am not as sure of my faith as you are, our kids take it as so natural that God is listening, and participating in thier lives.
Loved your story!
Thank you Rachel for visiting me again! And thank you for the compliment! I’m glad you liked the story.
I’m not so sure of my faith all the time, which was why my daughter’s reactions and responses to the things around her fascinates me. It helps me to know that having a relationship with God is as natural as a child makes it out to be.
So true. It’s a wonderful feeling when we feel close enough to speak with Jesus, because He’s right there next to us.
I know I like talking to Him nearly all day long…
Happy Friday and good weekend,
Paula
Adam lumps in Santa, Jesus and his deceased poppa (and his dead fish) all in one nebulous place.
God seems too abstract for him.
He likes Jesus though!
He yells up to the sky to talk to them!
Hey Crunchy Carpets!
Seems like Adam’s got it in a way that makes sense to him! And actually, again, it’s that child-like attitude that’s so precious. I think that’s all that matters!
Hi Paula!
I’m trying to get to the point where I talk to God all day long, but I’m not there yet. I tend to do better when I’ve got a journal with me. That way I can see my thoughts, have something concrete to think about and pray about. I admire people who can just have all day conversations with God like that.