Parenting is the most rewarding, difficult, creative, and
stretching thing I have ever found my self in the midst of without really
realizing what I was getting myself involved.
For real.
On a sunshiney Monday morning a while back, (there was still
ridiculous amounts of snow on the ground here in NY) I had turned on worship
music while making breakfast for my two cherubs.
Corbin asked and I assured him that, Yes, this was Jesus
music we were listening to.
Then he pointed up toward the brilliant blue sky outside the
window above the kitchen sink and said matter-of-factly: “Jesus lives in the
stars.”
I looked at him in amazement because I have never told him
“where” Jesus lives. And I definitely had never told him that Jesus lives in
the sky.
“Corbin sweetie, Jesus doesn’t live in the sky, He lives
inside us in our hearts-…” and as soon as the sounds passed my lips I thought,
“How does THAT make any more sense to a 2-year-old than the stars do??”
I dropped the conversation, but breakfast in bowls, said our
“Thank you Jesus for this food!” and proceeded to feed the baby. Corbin began
to lounge in his seat (not proper table manners, young man!) and then asked:
“We go visit Jesus in the stars today?”
What?!!! Where is this kid getting this stuff from?!
I want my children to know Jesus personally. My desire is to
be able to tell them who Christ is and how alive and living my God is. I want
them to have as vibrant and real a relationship with God as I have the joy of
experiencing in my own life.
As I looked Corbin in his little round face, all the
doctrinal phrases and theological concepts that get debated between church
groups dropped away, all the heady thoughts of how much a person needs to “do”
to “be” a Christian disappeared.
Try to break down what you believe in to a 2-year-old so
they can grasp an understanding of it- and you’ll realize how simple and yet
how challenging it really is to walk your talk.
“Jesus lives in our hearts, Corbin. And He goes with us
everywhere we go.”
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can’t be
hidden.” Matt 5:14
Post script: As far as Corbin thinking that Jesus lives in
the stars…I puzzled over that for a while. Later that same morning, he pulled a
left over Christmas card from the bookshelf and brought it to me. He pointed
out Baby Jesus, Mama Mary, Daddy Joseph, the cows, the sheep, the Kings and, up
in the sky, “the star, where Jesus is!”
Yes, of course. The kings followed the star in the sky to
where Jesus was lying in the manger.
The kid is smart!
