National Tartan Day! and Conversatons about God
It's Natioanl Tartan Day!
I'm not sure why this makes me so happy. I don't claim a family tartan; my only experiences with wearing tartan involved generally icky school uniforms.
Of course pictures like this may have something to do with it...
Conversations with a 3 year old.
I'm driving home from grocery shopping with Samantha today, and she's humming some little happy happy song in the backseat. Not really paying attention to what it is, but I'm happy because she's happy, and then out of no-where-land comes the question "God makes the flowers grow, right Mommy?"
Being happily non-commital on others views of religion (as long as these hypothetical other people aren't imposing their unwelcome views on others), I was temporarily stumped on how to handle this query. In the knick of time came an NPR news brief on happenings in Washington today, inspiring me to do as the politicians do - don't answer the question, redirect! "Did Mrs. L teach you that?" (Mrs. L is her very sweet, likely Methodist pre-school teacher. Lovely woman.)
Sending my child to a Methodist preschool, I probably should have been ready for questions like this, but my son escaped his 3 years of Methodist preschool blissfully uninspired to question me.
"Yes. And she said God makes the rain fall. Does God make the rainfall Mommy?"
Oh boy. Now, this same teacher has given lovely lessons this year on planting seeds, zoology, insects, and rainbows. All of these lessons involved actual science, at an appropriate preschool level. So how do I tell her that no, it's not so much God making the flowers grow and the rain fall as it is the forces of nature at work?
"Did Mrs. L teach you that too?"
"No. That was Miss B." She hums a few bars of the same song as before. "But I can't remember the other two parts. Only the flowers and the rain."
Suddenly it clicks for me. "Samantha, is there a song about God making the flowers grow and the rain fall?"
"Yes Mommy. What's the rest of it?"
Whew. Theological crisis averted. It's all just a song. A song that makes me cringe with it's less than correct message, but as long as it's just a song I can live with it.
But next time my baby asks me if God made the flowers, I'm going to have to have a better answer ready. Hope she gives me a year or two to think about it. Three would be better... I could tell her to "google it".
I'm not sure why this makes me so happy. I don't claim a family tartan; my only experiences with wearing tartan involved generally icky school uniforms.
Of course pictures like this may have something to do with it...
Conversations with a 3 year old.
I'm driving home from grocery shopping with Samantha today, and she's humming some little happy happy song in the backseat. Not really paying attention to what it is, but I'm happy because she's happy, and then out of no-where-land comes the question "God makes the flowers grow, right Mommy?"
Being happily non-commital on others views of religion (as long as these hypothetical other people aren't imposing their unwelcome views on others), I was temporarily stumped on how to handle this query. In the knick of time came an NPR news brief on happenings in Washington today, inspiring me to do as the politicians do - don't answer the question, redirect! "Did Mrs. L teach you that?" (Mrs. L is her very sweet, likely Methodist pre-school teacher. Lovely woman.)
Sending my child to a Methodist preschool, I probably should have been ready for questions like this, but my son escaped his 3 years of Methodist preschool blissfully uninspired to question me.
"Yes. And she said God makes the rain fall. Does God make the rainfall Mommy?"
Oh boy. Now, this same teacher has given lovely lessons this year on planting seeds, zoology, insects, and rainbows. All of these lessons involved actual science, at an appropriate preschool level. So how do I tell her that no, it's not so much God making the flowers grow and the rain fall as it is the forces of nature at work?
"Did Mrs. L teach you that too?"
"No. That was Miss B." She hums a few bars of the same song as before. "But I can't remember the other two parts. Only the flowers and the rain."
Suddenly it clicks for me. "Samantha, is there a song about God making the flowers grow and the rain fall?"
"Yes Mommy. What's the rest of it?"
Whew. Theological crisis averted. It's all just a song. A song that makes me cringe with it's less than correct message, but as long as it's just a song I can live with it.
But next time my baby asks me if God made the flowers, I'm going to have to have a better answer ready. Hope she gives me a year or two to think about it. Three would be better... I could tell her to "google it".
Posted by K.A.S. at 5:16 PM::
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