Bethany wandered into the living room with a piece of scrap paper in her hand. She was not quite two years old and she enjoyed scribbling and pretending to write. “Here you are, Mommy,” she said. “This is for everyone in the world.” I looked up from the cross-stitch sampler I was working on, trying to remember my place on the pattern. “Oh, that’s nice, darling,” I said, with a quick glance at her hieroglyphics, then back to the pink thread.
“Yes,” she said, “It’s very important. It tells everyone what they need to do.””Oh, does it?” I said, doubtfully. “Yes,” she said emphatically. “Look!” She demanded my full attention. I gave up on the sampler. “See,” she said. “On this side it says that everyone must love God and obey Him, and on this side it says that everyone must hate Satan. They are the two most important things for everyone to know.
“I nearly fell off my chair. Here was my little toddler preaching to the world! This was what she felt was the most important thing to tell everyone. How many adults could sum up the facts of eternal life so clearly? This was nothing we had taught her directly, just what she had realized herself, from the Bible stories we had told her, from watching our lives, listening to us talk about God, and being part of our prayer times. I don’t know exactly how it happened, but I know she could understand those things only because God was working on her heart.
We weren’t “on our own” as we tried to share God with out children; He was there too, helping them comprehend, through the friendship of His Holy Spirit. She handed me the piece of paper and went back to scribble something else, blissfully unaware of her innocent profundity, while I folded the paper for my treasure box, and tucked another special moment into my heart.
Dear Father, thank You for revealing Yourself to our children. Thank You for the truths they they can help us understand. Amen.Think of some times when your children have surprised you with their understanding of spiritual things.
If you were to sum up what you believe as a Christian in two sentences, what would you say?
Ask your children to tell you why it is important to love Jesus, and listen to what they say.