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“Kids Write God”
According to the New Testament, Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man. The Bible makes the important theological point that Jesus was a real human person who needed to grow and mature. Unlike Athena of ancient mythology, Jesus did not arrive in the world fully formed. She, you recall, sprang from the head of Zeus wearing a full suit of armor. She was the goddess of wisdom and also a battle goddess. Zeus had complained of a bad headache. Hephaestus ran up with an axe, split open Zeus' skull and out she popped. You might say it was history's first case of a splitting headache.
The boy Jesus was like all children--in need of knowledge. One can only wonder at the questions he must have asked when he was a child. He may have pondered some of the same big issues that some children did who wrote letters to God.
One kid was already old enough to have certain concepts of God when he wrote: "Dear God, it rained for our whole vacation and is my father mad! He said some things about you that people are not supposed to say. But I hope you will not hurt him anyway. Your friend (I'm not going to tell you who I am.)" The youngster had not yet encountered the theological concept of omniscience. Lots of folk live to ripe old ages and never seem to internalize the idea that God is all-knowing.
Those omni words like omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent seem to elude lots of smart people who behave as if God has no idea where they are nor what they are up to. Lucy wrote: "Dear God, are you really invisible or is that just a trick?" God may sometimes be out of sight but God is never out of touch nor out of mind. So don't try to outsmart God. It is important for all us children to learn this early.
One of the big ideas we struggle with early in life is the concept of justice. Bruce wrote: "Dear God, please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up." Bruce is not the first person to express anxiety over the basic fairness of God. It only seems right that a little fellow who hasn't annoyed God with repeated requests ought to get special consideration when he finally asks for something.
Our family situations present lots of challenges for children who are growing in wisdom and stature. Nan indicated a recognition that God has a hard job. She wrote: "Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family and I can never do it."
When children get to talking to God, some get the urge to make suggestions to God. Larry wrote: "Dear God, maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother."
God probably appreciates a little humor from all us growing kids. Danny wrote a suggestion with a touch of wit: "Dear God, my brother is a rat. You should give him a tail. Ha ha."
Darla wrote just to make sure she understood what God meant: "Dear God, did you really mean, 'Do unto others as they do unto you'? Because, if you did, I'm going to fix my brother."
Finally, we all need to learn the futility of trying to negotiate deals with God. Raphael wrote: "Dear God, if you give me a genie lamp like Aladdin, I will give you anything you want except my money or my chess set."
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