Last Friday we returned from a shopping trip and realized, on the way home, that part of the city had been hit by a power blackout (a hydro pole caught fire). When we got home, we were relieved to find that our power was still on, although we were very close to the area that was affected.
While we were putting the things away, I said to Crayons, just trying to express some thankfulness, "God must have been helping us! Our lights are still on and we can cook supper. Some peoples' lights are out and they can't work their stoves."
Crayons thought a minute and asked, "Isn't God helping the other people?"
Umm....didn't one of Edith Schaeffer's grandchildren ask almost the same question after a storm (in one of her books)? "God made the stars. God made the trees." "Did God make the trees blow down too?"
They start asking the big questions so early without even realizing they're doing it. Do we have answers for them? When 1 Peter 3:15 says "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you (NKJV)," did he think he'd be including four-year-olds?
3 comments:
Sooo . . . what was your answer? :)
Sigh...I knew somebody would ask me that, I just didn't know it was going to be so fast. (grin)
And to be honest, I didn't have the perfect answer for that very big, in-your-face question, that would give her a quick answer (I don't think she was looking for a long discussion! Why do people suffer? Why do some people get sick? Why didn't the tornado that went through just north of here hit our house? (Yes, we do have tornados even here) It's a very big question.). I said, wow, that's a pretty tough question, and I'm not sure why some peoples' lights are still out, but I am still thankful that ours are on.
And if I'd known what Edith Schaeffer answered to her grandchild's question, it might have helped, but she never told us her answer either!
Any suggestions for next time?
Wow! Hard stuff. (And you're right about them sometimes wanting a quick answer - like the joke about 'where did I come from?' and after the big, convoluted, sweaty answer, the child saying, 'oh, Johnny's came from Ohio, I just wondered where I came from' ;-) Maybe a reasonable answer might have been 'God helped us by keeping our lights on. But sometimes He helps us IN the darkness - helping us not to be afraid.' I don't know. I'm almost twenty years into this Mom thing and I truly don't have it all figured out! :-)
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