Faith like a Child

I love one-liners!  Especially when they come from my son.  Every now and then he says something that just hits me - be it funny, sweet, profound, or just darn cute!  His latest was a combination of funny and profound (with, of course, a touch of cute too).  It really struck me, and I've been thinking about it all day.  

Adrian has a toy "cell phone" that he got as a gift from his aunt when Lilly was born.  Both kids just love it, and Adrian loves to have "conversations" on it.  Some of my favorites are when we heard him from the backseat saying "Hello, Papa...uh-huh...uh-huh...uh-huh...been visitin' Krisie's house...uh-huh...uh-huh...uh-huh..." (you get the picture).  And earlier this week how he kept saying he was going to call James and Kaylyn to "tell them if they wanna come play affer school."  Yep, he knows what to do with a phone, and who the great people are he wants to talk to on it, that's for sure.

But this morning we heard from the sitter that yesterday Adrian picked up his toy phone and said, "Hello, Jesus, what you doin' at church?" 

Now this may seem just cute, and maybe a bit silly to you, but to me it's incredibly profound.  As a theologian a part of me reacted by instantly thinking, "Shoot, I've got some explaining to do so that my son realizes that Jesus isn't just at churches; how do I tell my toddler that Christ's presence is all around us - in nature, in him, in every person, even our enemies, etc."  But as a still-new-and-scared-I'll-fail-in-many-ways-including-in-the-area-of-sharing-faith-with-my-family-mom, I also reacted by thinking, "Wow, my son knows the name Jesus; good for us!"  And then I thought about it more, and the two came together.  Now I'm reacting in this way:

We may not be able to explain everything beautiful (and ugly) about our faith with our kids at this young an age, but it's ok, because we don't have to.  We don't have to partly because as long as our kids hear the words (like Jesus, prayers, God, church) and see the examples (of praying, going to church, being kind), they'll at least have a foundation.  And even more-so perhaps, we don't have to because someone else is telling them the deeper stuff for us.  

I truly believe that Christ himself, through the Holy Spirit, have been speaking to my son!  Adrian has said things about faith that I know I have not taught him.  He has "seen" Jesus in places and objects that are truly Holy to me, but I never told him were.  And even when we've gone days without mentioning the name "Jesus," Adrian still mentions him very regularly.  And what his recent "phone conversation" helped me see is that for him to somehow not only know the name Jesus, but really know Jesus as a person, as a real person who you would call up on the phone just like your beloved Papa, says that our Lord is more than just a name Momma and Dadda mention when we're on our way to Church or trying to impart theological wisdom in our 2-year old; it says that Jesus is already building a relationship with his beloved son and mine, and I need not fear what God will have no problem doing!  

That is what Jesus is doing in my (domestic) church.  And for that, I thank God!