*Mostly posting this just so I don't forget the specifics, for "baby book" purposes...
As I said in my previous post, Finn and Layla have been talking about God quite a bit these days. At night, when they are all tucked into bed, that is when all their deep thoughts come out. I so, so treasure those long conversations I have with them before they fall asleep.
Lately, Layla has been quite frustrated that she can't see God with her eyes. She knows she can see God when she goes to heaven, but she does NOT want to die just to be able to see God in heaven, so she is dealing with quite a bit of frustration lately about this issue. And then we have to talk her down from worrying about dying and death, when she goes down this mental road.
Finn is also highly invested in seeing and hearing God. He, however, thinks that the fact that God is "invisible" is rather like a super power, and he likes saying that a lot. "God is INVISIBLE!!!" About 3 weeks ago, Finn saw some sort of program that scared the every-loving daylights out of him. He keeps mentioning random creatures to us, to confirm if they are real or not. They are all imaginary, so we can sort of reassure him that God did NOT create them, and they don't exist, but it only does so much to help him not be fearful.
Layla is also a bit worried about animals, but all of the animals she is worried about are real: wolves, bears, etc. She wants to talk a LOT about what they eat, and what would happen if we ran into them outside, etc.
So, all of this worry and fear floating around at night has brought up even MORE talk about God these days. :)
Last Thursday night, on February 11th, Jonas was putting Cora to sleep and I was talking to both of the kids as they were snuggled together in Layla's bed. They were both frustrated at God's seeming lack of accessibility, so I tried to be even more specific about how God interacts with us, and how we can feel him in our hearts and hear him in our minds (sometimes...sigh...these are kind of tricky talks with kids! I told Finn to ask Grandpa all of his questions next time Grandpa drives Finn to preschool...) if God is living in us. They wanted to know how God could live in us, so I told them we just have to ask him to live in our hearts, and tell him that we want to hear him and listen to what he has to say. Finn IMMEDIATELY prayed out loud, without any prompting from me. Cutest thing even. I wish I could remember his words, but as it was almost a week ago I can't exactly. It was very simple, and something like "God, please come live in my heart," or along those lines. Layla wanted me to show her how to pray, so I lead her in another simple prayer too.
So...did that just happen??? :) Finn said he could feel God inside his heart, but Layla wasn't quite sure. She wanted to know just how on earth God could live inside BOTH her and Finn, let alone everyone else in the world. Explaining the Holy Spirit and the Trinity to a 4 and 6-year-old at bedtime...much harder than I anticipated, folks!! Haha! Again, I directed them to Grandpa. Don't let me down, Grandpa! ;)
As I left the room, part of me wanted to downplay what may have happened there...they are both little kids with incredibly limited knowledge of anything, let alone theology, but then I remembered my own life. I clearly remember asking Jesus to live in my heart with my own Dad when I was 5 years old. Clearly. And I also remember being baptized when I was 7 years old. Both of these events were completely genuine on my part, and not coerced by adults at all.
The faith of a child. NOT to be underestimated or belittled at all, right??? Right. Amen.
