I thought I’d make a post about why my 3.5 year old son’s been saying about Jesus for the past few months.
Almost every night after I pick him up from preschool, we drive past a Catholic cemetery with a giant crucifix prominently light up at night. Once my son started noticing the statue, he asked who that was. When I told him, he responded from the back seat with his arms outstretched, proudly saying, “I’m Jesus, too!”
Then, just the other week, my son said, “Jesus is giving me a hug!”
Wow. I was raised Catholic. We went to church every Sunday. I attended Youth Group. I even was the Cantor for mass. In all those years, never ONCE did I ever think Jesus, with his arms outstretched, was giving me a hug; it was always about Jesus’ persecution and sacrifice.
A few days ago, my son then added a new perspective on Jesus when he exclaimed, “Jesus looks like a kite.” Okay… that’s getting waaaay out of the box, but I totally see how he came up with that… I can only imagine what Jesus is going to do next in the eyes of my son.
Now, every time I see Jesus on the cross, I think of how much Jesus loved us and wants us to have a relationship with God. (No matter what faith you are, Jesus’ teachings are clearly documented.)
And I now also associate Jesus with soaring freely, knowing that God’s love will support me in flight, but also keep me firmly grounded throughout my life.
Pretty deep lesson from a three year old.
I would have lost all of that if I did not Listen to what my son said, Observed what he saw, Validated his perspective and Empathized with his point of view so I could find the metaphors.
Make it your #153Promise today to approach your day-to-day activities with a fresh perspective… maybe from your own children’s.
Sometimes, you just need to look at the world through different lenses to see things more clearly.
-Kisses! XxXx