Last week we were having dinner and recapping our days when my 7 year-old son, Miles, announced that he needed my advice on something. At age 7, there is not much that he doesn’t figure out on his own so I was kind of surprised that he was willing to admit that I may know something that he doesn’t.
He went on to explain that while he was on a field trip at school, one of the girls in his class was annoying him. “Girl issues…this won’t be the last time we have this conversation”, I thought. But it wasn’t girl issues this time. After several failed attempts to get this girl to leave him alone, he decided to bring up the subject that grownups know is guaranteed to shut down any good conversation: “Do you know Jesus?”
“Miles, you really asked her if she knows Jesus?”
He nonchalantly said yes, but that wasn’t the issue. To his horror, she didn’t know Jesus and she asked him if he would introduce her to him. I immediately wondered how this conversation was playing out at the dinner table in this young girls’ home!
This is where Miles needed my advice. “Do you have any tips on how to introduce her to Jesus?” We spent the rest of the dinner talking about different opportunities that he might have to share his faith with his friend.
I couldn’t shake this conversation…not because of what I taught Miles, but because of what he taught me:
- Urgency – There are people that we interact with every day that don’t know Jesus. Do I care about them as much as Miles cared about his friend? He had a sense of urgency that was palatable.
- Innocence – Some topics are more awkward than others to bring up. We should bring them up anyway. Is it possible that at the age of 7 my son is more bold about his faith than I am?
- Dependency – There are times that I need to ask for the perspective of others. I find myself in over my head several times a week. My default response is to hunker down and try to figure it out myself. Usually there are people around me that are smarter and further down the road that would gladly help me out.
This probably isn’t exactly what Jesus meant when he said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” But it served as a reminder for me that I need a sense of Urgency, Innocence, and Dependency on my Father as I enter into this holiday season.
What about you? What have you learned from your kids recently?
