I have one for the annals of the Christian Parenting Hall of Shame. Can you beat this one?
Earlier this week Sophia, age three and a half, was contentedly scribbling on paper with crayons. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was drawing a looming rainbow with a figure of someone underneath. Then she drew a smile and hair. She announced, "This is Jesus. I love her."
"What?" I asked. "You mean you love HIM. Jesus is the SON of God, a male. A man."
Sophia's blue eyes turned stormy gray and she pressed her lips into a thin, angry line. "Jesus is a girl! She has long, curly hair and she is so pretty and I love her!"
Well, I guess the good news is that she loves Jesus, right? In other news, I feel like the biggest Christian loser parent in existence! How could she think Christ is female?
I guess this goes to show that, no matter how many thousands of times Sophia heard the pronoun "he," what mattered most was the visual image she held in her mind that convinced her that the curly, long hair defined the gender.
Kevin remarked, "Isn't that like us?" Many of us have this vision in our minds of who we think God is. How often is our image of God accurate? Do we take God for who He says He is, as revealed in His word? Or do we conjure up our own images of Him and reconstruct reality, to whatever suits us best?
And now I'm trying to decide what to do about Sophia's theology ... And I'm laughing at how cute she is!
Here are some pictures of my little sweetie, taken recently when we were hanging out together in the kitchen:
2 comments:
While Christ, the historical very real embodiment of God with us, was a dude, God--through Christ--did make us in "His" image: Male and Female. Reminds me of Gungor's "God is not a white man" song. I think that is a brilliant observation: We all have "pictures" in our heads of who God is, and I know I don't like it when people challenge those conceptions. May we be humble and open to get to know God--through Christ--for who "He" is.
~Luke
Nicely put, Luke.
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