One of Abi’s Great Aunts makes jewelry. I recently bought a rosary bracelet from her and Abi loves it so much Aunt Linda made one for her in her size. She loves it and wears it all the time. Since it’s a rosary bracelet, it has a crucifix charm on it. Abi already knows what a cross is and that it’s Jesus on the crucifix. As she’s admiring her bracelet we have this conversation:
“Mommy, why is Jesus on the cross?”
“Because he died on the cross.”
“Why did Jesus die on the cross?”
“Well…Jesus had to die for our sins so that we can go to heaven someday.”
“Why did he have to do that?”
“Well….because he is our savior.”
“But when are we going to go to heaven?”
“I don’t know. No one knows when they will go to heaven.”
“But Jack is in heaven.”
“Yes, he is.”
“What happened after Jesus went to heaven?”
“He lives there with God and he watches over us and keeps us safe.”
“Why does he do that?”
“Because he loves us.”
Shew. That girl is full of ‘whys’ lately. ‘Why is Grandma Jean laying in that bed?’ (a casket) ‘Why isn’t she waking up?’ ‘Why is it cloudy?’ ‘Why is the snow melting?’ ‘Why are my eyes blue?’ ‘Why did all the leaves fall off the trees?’ ‘Why do zebras have stripes?’ ‘Why do I have to go to bed?’ ‘Why do I have to take a bath?’ ‘Why can’t I stick my finger in the outlet?’ ‘Why can’t I eat snow off the bottom of my shoe?’ ‘why does that lady have such a big bottom?’
Most of the time I am happy to explain ‘why.’ That’s how she learns about the world and I always want her to be inquisitive and thoughtful. I want my girls to think for themselves, to ask questions and make up their own minds about things. If we dismiss her questions as silly or annoying will she eventually stop asking ‘why?’ But some days after the 147th ‘why’ of the day I just want to scream the dreaded “BECAUSE I SAID SO!” Or even better, “go ask your dad.”
I pray for patience on those days. And wisdom. Because let's get real here, I have no clue what I'm doing. But mostly I pray that God will give me the words to explain the hard questions like ‘why did Jesus die on the cross?’ That’s something I don’t think I completely understand. How can I explain it to my 3 year old? And ok, I know she truly cannot understand any of that at her age anyway. But when she’s older she will.
Right now she thinks Adam and I know everything. We are her source for right, wrong, heaven, hell and everything in between. What an awesome (and terrifying) responsibility. Someday she will probably think we don’t know anything about anything. Or worse, that she’s smarter than us.
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