We love our children. Because we love them, we strive to teach each of them about our faith in Jesus in an age appropriate way. We both pray with our daughters as we put them to bed. We sing with them. Jennifer sings the Doxology with Karis. Clint sings Amazing Grace. We both sing Jesus loves me.
We take Mattea and Karis to church at least once, and often more than once a week. Karis loves being in the church more than either one of us do, asking to go to church at least once a day. It doesn't hurt that she sees the church every time she looks out the window.
Until lately, we both thought to this point Karis' relationship with faith and Jesus is quite normal for her age. She likes to pray at meals. She loves to sing and dance at church. She likes singing children's songs, including those about Jesus. She loves to go to church, and has people there she loves to play with and talk to. Occasionally, to her mother's chagrin, she even starts acting a little charismatic and raising her hands and jumping and clapping when she is singing in the contemporary service.
Recently, however, Karis' thoughts about and relationship with Jesus have moved from the point of normal affection to serious obsession. Early last week, she began to talk about calling Jesus. She started asking her mom on a regular basis to dial up Jesus on the phone so she could talk to Him. We tried to explain that we talk to Jesus when we pray, but it was no use. It was not long before she was grabbing her toy phone and having this conversation:
"Hello, Jesus, how are you today?"
"Good"
"Fine"
"How was your day Jesus?"
"Ohhh. Ok."
"Have a nice day, Jesus, love you...bye"
We thought these phone conversations were a little unique for a 2 year old, but we were not too surprised. The phone calls were cute.
Then, toward the middle to the end of the week, Karis became more concerned that she needed to go visit Jesus, or that Jesus was going to drop by and visit her. She would keep asking, "We going to visit Jesus now?" or "Go see Jesus" In response Jen said, "Karis, we will go to church on Sunday."
As the weekend arrived, Karis began to think that Jesus would make a surprise visit at our home because we have not made it to see Him yet. "Jesus is at the door, Daddy," she said to Clint on Sunday morning. When there would be a creak or a moan in the house, she would ask if that was Jesus showing up. "There he is," she would say, "Jesus is here."
It so happened that Clint was struggling to come up with a children's message on Sunday, and he used Karis' recent obsession with Jesus knocking at the door every time the wind blew the screen door loose as inspiration to talk about Revelation 3:20, the passage where Jesus says "Behold I stand at the door and knock".
To demonstrate the lesson, Clint had someone knock on a pew. "What is that?," Clint asked
"Someone is knocking," one of the children said.
"Jesus is coming soon...," Karis whispered loud enough for half of the church to hear.
Clint explained that when the Bible says Jesus is knocking, it is talking about Jesus inviting us to trust and believe in him. He used the phrase, "When the Bible says he is knocking at our door, it means Jesus wants to be a part of our lives and in our hearts. It means he is knocking at the door of our heart."
Karis was keyed into this heart language right away. The last couple days she has been talking about how Jesus "at her heart". At some point this has also morphed to "in her heart".
She has recently been asking about all her family and friends. Is Jesus at daddy's heart?
"Yes Karis. Is Jesus in mommy's heart."
"Yes, Karis, I believe he is."
Then while Clint was at work she started asking her mother about cousins, auntie, and grandparents. Some people Jennifer felt comfortable saying, "Yes, Karis, he is.", but for some other relatives Jennifer had to be more diplomatic and say, "I don't know Karis, we will have to pray about that one."
Today Karis kept saying, "I want to go see Jesus."
Her mother does not want Karis to go see Jesus yet. Her thought is, we might want to keep Karis around for a number of decades before she goes to spend eternity with Jesus.
All of this Jesus drama has provoked different reactions among her parents. Jennifer is concerned we are going to have one of those preachers kids that does not have an appropriate sense of personal space, and aggressively approaches people in stores and at parks asking them if they know Jesusssss. She is also challenged by how to explain the reality of Christ in a way a two year old can understand.
Clint is a little more mystical about the whole deal. Could it be that the presence of God is speaking to Karis in a way that she recognizes, but we don't see? Could it be that God is claiming Karis as his own, even at this young age, and faith is being born in a very age-appropriate way in her young little heart?
At times, Clint is also concerned that the obsession with Jesus now, and the subsequent misunderstandings and disappointments that happen when a parent tries to explain the reality of Jesus to a 2 year old mind will be detrimental to her faith development when she gets older. Will she burn out on Jesus, and then never really be open to the truth of Christ when she grows older?
All in all though, we are grateful that Karis' relationship with God and the church is not a drudgery, but a joy. And that her eagerness to learn about Jesus has helped us grow in our relationship with Him and understanding of Him as well.
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