Kaela's questions

I was putting Kaela to bed the other night, and she asked me why we're here. Wow. Honestly, I figured she'd ask what sexual side effects are (I hate commercials!!!) before she asked for such a clear presentation of the Gospel. I hesitated, not knowing how much she would understand, and how to phrase things.

We talked for over an hour. We talked about Moses and how he got the ten commandments, and how no one can do all that God requires of us...and how it broke His heart, because the delight of His life was in bondage to sin. It hurt him so that He sent a sacrifice to reconcile us to Him once and for all. "Yeah," she said to that part. "Because if I had to kill a little lamb every time I'm mean to Ben and if everybody had to do that, there wouldn't be any animals left!" Exactly.

So then, we got to what it means to trust in Jesus...and what grace is. She knows the concept of grace pretty well, because sometimes we won't spank them when they deserve it, and we'll give them "grace" instead. Ben will sometimes pull Kaela's hair or throw something at the dog, then immediately holler, "I want GRACE!!" (Thanks, Tammy) I told her that once a person's been offered grace, they just want to give God whatever He wants from their lives.. because that's what He desires, and because that's what we OWE Him for not punishing us the way we deserve. We are so grateful, and we want to show other people that so that they can have grace, too. And that's why we're here.

Wasn't that a long-winded thing to tell a 5-year old? Like, "Honey, I'm so glad you asked!! I've been waiting 5 years to tell you all of this, and here it all comes at once! bleah!!!"

Except, you know what? She really listened! She has the attention span of a hummingbird sometimes, but she listened and asked questions the entire time we talked. When we were finished talking, she gave me a hug and said, "Mommy, thank you so much for teaching me about Jesus." And we just want her to know more than about Him...

She's been asking lots of questions since then. I read her a verse tonight about sorcery that explained why we won't let her watch certain shows--because God hates them. She said that she needs to run across the street right then so she can tell her friends that they've all been doing things God doesn't like, too, and she wants to show them what God says so they can all honor Him. She's just absorbing everything like a sponge right now...and I'm so, so grateful for the opportunity to plant seeds of life in this little one's heart. If somehow we miss that, we've missed the whole point.

It's why we're here.