"Out of the Mouths of Babes . . ."

There are parts of teaching preschoolers that I just love! I’ve been teaching the Wee Worship class at my church for the last three Sundays and every Sunday, I tell stories of the cute things the kids say. Yesterday was no exception.

My lesson was on Gideon and how he learned to trust God. Trusting is believing that someone can do what he says he can do. When we trust God, this leads us to worship Him and praise Him for the powerful things He can do. So I talked to the children about how we worship God. I asked them what special words they would like to tell God because He is so powerful, so powerful that He could make dew appear on the wool fleece but not on the ground as we learned in our story.

There were the typical answers of “Thank you God,” “You are great,” and “I love you God.” I was surprised and pleased that the kids responded that much. Then it was Tori’s turn. She said, “I like you, God, a lot. You’re the best God of all.”

When Tori’s mother, who was the junior church teacher that morning, came to pick Tori up, I said, “I have to tell you what Tori said.” The mother said, “Oh no, what now?” I said, “No it’s good.” Then I told her what had happened. I told her it was so neat to hear kids say things in new refreshing ways, it showed they were internalizing what they were learning. Mom was pleased and delighted. I repeated Tori’s words, “You’re the best God of all.”

Then big sister, Allysa, interrupted. “He’s the only God,” she said. At first, some may think it sounded like big sister was being typical big sister in correcting her little sister’s theology. But Mom quickly smiled and said, “That’s right. That’s what we learned about today too, that He is the only God.”

Good for you, Allysa. That’s an important distinction. I’m glad you learned that now and I hope that sticks with you the rest of your life. There is only one God, there is none other. I hope you remember that when you are confronted by other world religions and someone tries to tell you that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe, that all religions lead to the same end. Nope! There is only one God, there is none other. The fact that Allysa could connect it to what her sister said shows she was internalizing and applying what she learned too.

And don’t worry, big sister. Little sister will “get it” later too. For right now, in her five year old brain, it’s pretty cool that God is the best God of all. You’re right, Tori. He is a mighty awesome God.