So I totally ripped off Judy Blume for that title. Did you ever read Ms. Blume when you were younger? If you didn't you missed out, especially if you were a girl. I loved her. I re-read so many of her books and when I started teaching I read some of her things to my kids. Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, come on, seriously good stuff. There was a point to the title though....
Addyson has become very interested in God lately. We've been talking about Him since her birth but it's finally becoming a topic she is curious about. She is especially curious about talking to Him. And Him talking to her. We pray with her every night and have since she was born and I think she has started to wonder about this person she can't see.
First we had to clear up a few things. For some reason my daughter was convinced that God was a woman. She kept calling Him she. This caused quite a stir in my household (and rightfully so) with my husband especially. It's a good thing he went to seminary and has that Master's degree in divinity. Too bad he didn't learn how to explain it to a 3 year old- we had to fall back on "because He is a man. We said so. Trust us."
The other thing we had to clear up was He wasn't deaf. I think because she hadn't heard Him talk back she felt she had to shout at Him. At all times. Kind of cute at first but at the park, in the pool, in Target she would just start shouting, "GOD? CAN YOU HEAR ME??"Reminded me of the first time I got my license and went through a drive thru. I can still hear the person saying to me through the loud speaker, "First of all you don't have to shout..."
One of the cutest things that has happened though since this interest in prayer began was a couple of weeks ago at Target. There was a woman stocking shelves or something and she had one of those walkie talkies on her belt and someone started talking on it. Addyson perked right up and said, "God? Is that you God?"
Just one of the many topics I'm sure we are going to encounter as parents that are so hard to explain to a child. It's hard for adults to understand this whole concept on prayer. Through this though, I have discovered two things.
First, it's the most rewarding thing to have your child dialogue with you on your faith. I love that she is starting to understand and ask questions about God and who He is. I hope and pray she will always be this interested in her heavenly Father.
Second, she has challenged me in the area of prayer. Even though she has begun to accept that she might not audibly hear God, I can tell if one day He did speak out loud to her, she wouldn't be surprised. I can tell by the way she talks to Him, she still expects it. I began to think the other day, why don't I talk to Him with the expectation she has? In my much longer life I have seen Him answer more prayers than she has but for some reason she expects it more than I do. It's humbling. It's changed the way I pray lately. To be honest, it's shaken me out of a rut I had gotten in. I pray with more expectancy, enthusiasm and wonder than I have in a long time.
I look forward to the next talk Addyson and I have about God. Who knows what she'll teach me next?
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