Just like with Jesus

A couple months ago Quinn was playing with some magnets. I was out of town and I received a call from Joe and he was excited to tell me about the interaction he had just had with Quinn. Quinn said, as he showed his dad how magnets repel one another, "Daddy, magnets are like with Jesus. When you are born there is a wall between you and Jesus, just like this." But then...he turns one of the magnets around, "Then you accept Jesus into your heart and it is like this." Click - the magnets are attached together.

Of course, we were excited by his obvious intellect :). He is making analogies. He is making analogies about magnetic fields. He is making analogies about magnetic fields and the Bible. He must be very smart.

We were far more excited about the subject of his analogy. Sometimes I really think he gets it. He loves the Lord. He understands more than we think. Just a few days ago he decided that he wanted to be a missionary when he grows up. What a lofty, prestigious goal for a 5 year old boy.

I still get goosebumps when I think of him as a toddler. It was right before or after Chloe was born, Quinn was about 18 months old. I was sitting on the floor of their bathroom singing "Jesus Loves Me" to him as he bathed. I really didn't think he was paying me any attention as he dumped water and splashed. He interrupted my beautiful singing and said, with all of the seriousness of a religious scholar, "I have two daddies." Bewildered, I said, "What?" And he repeated, "I have two daddies, daddy and Jesus." Now, I had NEVER told him that Jesus was our Father or that Father meant daddy. He hadn't heard any sermons, he didn't listen to any religious programs on the radio. The child was 18 months old. Where did this come from?

Do you ever get the feeling your kid will accomplish great things? This was one of those moments for me! It was and still is, a "wow, there's something a lot bigger than me working on this child's heart" moment. Every parent has a couple of these, I'm sure!

Two nights ago, we got home late from AWANA at church. Though I shouldn't have, I started doing laundry rather than putting Quinn to bed. Joe said to Quinn, "Let's go upstairs and read Sticky Situations (a book about making the right decisions written just for kids) and the Bible and then Mommy will come up and tuck you in." Quinn had a meltdown and sassed his daddy saying, "NO, I want mommy to read me Bible." Joe, frustrated by his sassing said, "No Bible tonight. Let's go. You are going straight to bed." Meltdown no longer describes Quinn's reaction. He lost it.

He cried, "You cannot take away Bible. You can never take away Bible." Ahhhh...Daddy did not know (my fault) that I had made a deal with Quinn a long, long time ago that Bible would never be taken away. One of Quinn's favorite things in the world is books. Occasionally, we have to punish him by saying he doesn't get any books at bed time. However, I told him that no matter how naughty he was, we would not take away Bible reading time. I felt like it was precisely those times when he most needed Bible time.

Big mistake...I forgot to tell Daddy about the deal I had made with him. Joe came to the laundry room and said something about Quinn being really upset and told me the story. I told him about our deal. He agreed with the "deal" but was now in a bind as to what to do. The books all say to tell the kids when you make a bad decision. So...we said to Quinn, "Mommy forgot to tell Daddy about the deal we made that we can't take away Bible for punishment so we came up with a new punishment." Quinn, "What is it?" Mommy, "You cannot sleep in your top bunk tonight (it was the first time he had decided to sleep up there in months - the warning tag says, "kids under age 6 should not sleep in top bunk" and this was a real problem for Quinn but his cousin Parker (age 3) got bunk beds and he is sleeping in his top bunk. Quinn finally decided it was time for him to sleep in his top bunk too). He cried, "But I was getting ready to sleep in my top bunk all day." Mommy, "I am sorry but you made a bad choice." Quinn, "I am so sad right now...zzz, zzz, zzz"

All's well that ends well!