She began to talk with God

Last week there was a severe thunder storm in Orlando. Our daughter, who is otherwise too courageous for her own good, has always been highly sensitive towards high sounds. After a few thunders (that even scared me), she began having a causal conversation with God as she kept coloring.

“Oh God, please don’t let the little babies get scared…..”

And then told me that God said “ok, ok…” and so on.

First I felt uneasy- was it appropriate to pretend that you hear God? Is it disrespectful? Then I realized how ridiculous my reaction was towards her sweet friendship with God. Perhaps, I should have these causal conversations with God and bring my relationship with Him out of the rather ritualistic formats to a daily routine/friendship.

Afterall, all that I think we should aspire to is to make sure our faith permeates our worldview/perspective/attitude towards everything, all the time. Not to compartmentalize our lives and put God and religion on a pedestal. So this is exactly what my daughter was doing, in her 4 year old ways…

If I told her she is only supposed to be addressing God this or that way, it would have been a devastating blow (and religiously wrong and unnecessary) to her blooming friendship with God.

A wise mentor in my spiritual journey once said that we are not the ones educating our children (God, as Rab, takes care of that). But it is us who are being educated by parenthood…

Everyday I realize how true this observation is, and how much of a blessing parenthood is for our spiritual growth…