Theology with a 3 yr old

Alli has become quite the little singer/song-writer lately. She will just randomly start making up and singing songs, some of which are quite amusing. The lyrics to one of my favorites were "CoYOte, CoYOte at the petting zoo." I'm thinking: I'm not sure a coyote is a good candidate for a petting zoo animal, but it would be interesting.

Alli has also really started diving into and absorbing her religious education lately, so the following is a great video that captures the two...

In case you didn't catch those lyrics they go a little something like this:

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus- what are you saying?
hmmm, mmm, mmm, hmmm, mmm, mmm
Jesus, All the power.
Jesus, All the power.
Jesus, Jesus- where are you going?
Jesus, Jesus- where are you going? where are you going?
Before Buzby, before Buzby (Buzby is a character on her Christian cartoon)
The Lord, the Lord...

We have also had some funny conversations about God with her lately. Here are some examples:

1. Alli was on the phone with daddy one day and happened to be very talkative rambling on and in the middle of it all she says:

"Jesus is the Lord of my blessings!"

Before daddy could even finish his response of "Somebody's been going to church," she follows it up with

"AND, Shamu is the Lord of my blessings!"

Daddy responds "Somebody's also been going to Sea World lately"

2. As I was putting Alli down for a nap, she got frustrated with me and shoved her Bible onto the floor. I sternly explained that we have to treat the Bible with extra special care because it is God's book. Her response:

"I want to give it back to Him."

Mom: "No, I mean He wrote it for us..." Nevermind. "Just please don't ever push it to the floor again."

3. At the dinner table, Dwaine and I were explaining to Alli that we can't hide anything from God because He sees everything we do (for what reason we felt we had to tell her that I don't remember). Her response:

"Where is He?"

Hmmm, the abstract concept of God being everywhere all the time even though we can't see Him is a bit too much for a 3 yr old (though I tried). She seemed more pleased with the answer "He lives in heaven" so we left it at that.

At other times, she seems to have just the right words for Him. Her prayers often go something like this "Dear God- Thank you for my blessings. I love you. You love us. In Jesus' name, Amen" How perfectly simple is that?

So, we're learning- all of us. Knowing what to say and what not to say to a small child about God can be very complicated. I think the key is to "plant seeds" as our church calls it. God made us. God loves us. God cares for us. We'll try sticking to those concepts for now, deal with questions as they arise and watch in amazement at how He is at work in our lives!