Out of the Mouths of Babes: Church Edition

Lately my kids have been saying things that just blow my mind.  I always think to myself "I really need to write this down" but of course I never do, or else I write it as my status on Facebook which eventually gets buried and never seen again.  So here goes - the first installment of "Out of the Mouths of Babes", likely to be a regular feature on here.

We've been trying to attend church more regularly lately.  At first, the kids were perplexed.  "Why do we have to go to church?"  Whine, whine, whine . . .  etc.  We stood firm and announced this morning that we were going to church.  I told my son Jack to go put on something nice.  I told him he could wear his new jeans but to wear something nice on top. (i.e. - no Capitals t-shirts)  About ten minutes later he came downstairs wearing his nice jeans, a button-down shirt and a nice sports jacket!  Wow - I hadn't expected that level of dressiness, but he looked so cute I just smiled, patted his head and told him how handsome he looked.

Later on as we sat in the pugh at church, he leaned over to me, patted the pocket of his jacket and whispered, "I brought my wallet so I can put money in the basket."  I almost fell over.  Not only had he gone through the trouble to dress his best, but he'd also brought his own money for the collection!  I whispered back that he could save his money and that I'd give him a dollar for the basket, but he shook his head and said, "No, I want to use my own money." 

The collection basket came through and Jack put his dollar in the basket.  He leaned toward me and whispered, "Where does the money go anyway?"  I whispered back, "It goes to the church."  He thought about that for second and replied in a slightly disappointed tone, "Oh, I thought God takes it."

Wow.  That's all I can say.  That would make sense, wouldn't it?

But wait, there's more.  Jack wasn't the only one spouting little gems like that today.  Ella had her own moments too.  After whining and complaining in the morning about having to go to church, she looked at me with a happy little smile about halfway through the service and whispered, "I LOVE church!!"   This from the girl who earlier that morning was whining, "Do we HAVE to go to church??  Can we leave halfway through?"

Later in the evening when I was putting her to bed, I told her how happy God was to see her in church today.  Her eyes widened and she said, "Wow - that was God up on the stage in that green robe?"  I tried not to laugh as I said, "No, that was the priest.  God was there too, you just can't see him." 

She thought about that and said, "But where was he?"  I explained that God is everywhere, and that even though you can't see him, he can see you.

Her reply?  "Oh, so he must have lots and lots of eyeballs so he can see everything."

So there you have it.  Now I am left with an image of God as this almighty being with thousands of eyes.  I can't wait to hear what the kids will say next.