Existentialism on the the Swings

Seth and I were in the backyard one Sunday afternoon. I was clipping and trimming hedges and he was talking to me. I never cease to be amazed at the things my children ponder. So much mulls through their little minds. Anyway, Seth was swinging and asking me the Big Questions of Life and Faith: why are we here? why didn't people both long ago and now believe in Jesus? etc.

I am way too finite to answer these questions correctly! And I had to put it in terms that an 8 year old would understand. But this is the task of every parent who brings a child into the world--to give them direction, to help them see that they are part of God's work and story.

I explained my belief in Jesus as God's Son and my Savior as simply and succinctly as I could. I told him that I believed our main purpose on this earth is to glorify God--in our lives, in our speech, in our conduct and business, in our reaching out to others for service and to tell them that they too can be His. I told him that our whole goal was to demonstrate Jesus and God to others in every way.

Seth, in all his precious honesty, said this was hard to understand. I told him that big people have a hard time understanding it too. In his young life, he hasn't really hit any adversity or gotten a good taste of the injustice than runs rampant on this planet. So I pray every morning for my children, for their health and well being, but most of all, that their eyes will be opened to the all-compelling love of God. My number one job is to teach them that God provides a bottom to their world, a solid ground to dig into when the handholds of feelings and situations have long since crumbled. It's all I know to do, for I have answers for nothing else.