From a bedtime conversation with the kids tonight. I started reciting the 23rd Psalm.
Penny: It's time to sleep, not time for prayers.
Me: Actually, sleep is a pretty traditional time for prayers. It's a good time to thank God for what he does for us.
Sar: God helps us every day without us even knowing.
Me: Yeah? How did God help you today?
Sar: She helped me learn in counting. She helps me in math. She helped me figure out what 8 and 8 is.
Penny: God helps me.
Sar: It's 16.
Penny: God helps me know what's right to do. And to listen to the teacher.
Me: Well...good. God helps me not be so afraid sometimes. So I like to thank Him once in awhile right before I sleep.
Me: Thank you, God, for my wonderful children and for all the love in my life.
Penny: I love you God.
Sar: Thank the God in me, and thank the God in Penny and thank the God in Daddy and thank the God in the whole world.
Me: That's nice Sar. Let's go to sleep.
Penny: God is in everybody, you know.
Sar: Not the bad people.
Me: Well, there aren't really bad people. Everyone's a mix. But we should really go to sleep. It's time to stop talking.
Sar: What about the kids God made?
Me: He made Adam and Eve.
Sar: No, the kids.
Penny: You know, the brothers. One was good and one was bad.
Me: You mean Cain and Abel?
Penny: The one who stabbed...
Sar: Yeah. The one who killed his brother. He was bad.
Me: He was a mix. They both were. He just listened to his bad side and Abel listened to his good side. Now, it's time to be quiet...
Sar: How old was he?
Me: Who?
Sar: The bad one.
Me: 18. He was 18.
Sar: How old was the one who died?
Me: Old. He was 22. Now sleep.
Penny: (suspiciously) Is that true?
Me: I don't know. The Bible doesn't say. But it's 10:30 and your bedtime was two hours ago. So sleep!
***
A couple of days ago I was driving the kids around and I told them the story of how God created human beings according to the Bible. I said it was one kind of truth, but that there were others. I told them the first man was Adam. Sar corrected me. He said the first man was Tom Bombadill, because Tom Bombadill is older than the hills. Which led to an interesting discussion about different kinds of truth and different stories.
Sometimes my kids blow me away.