The Theology of the Egg

Tae-kwon-do update from yesterday…
Given the option of finding another tae-kwon-do class or taking gymnastics, Tyler decided he wanted to try the boys’ gymnastics class. So, we tried that out tonight. Tyler was the only little boy there, so he had his own private class! The instructor was wonderful! He laughed with Tyler and gave him high fives frequently. He was so different from the guy last night! Tyler climbed on the pummel horse, did the “pencil” hop across the trampoline, did forward and backward rolls, and ended the class with some sit-ups. He left the gym sweaty and happy. That was so much better! We signed up for the class before we left. The class size could get up to 6 kids, but so far Tyler is the only one. Hopefully there will be another little boy for Tyler to pal around with, but a small class is ok with me. Tyler was so good that we celebrated by sharing a hot fudge sundae from DQ before going home. Glad we had a happy ending!

Over our lunch of chicken nuggets and rice-a-roni (a favorite around here) Tyler asked me about The Trinity. Well, not in so many words: “Mom, at my church they say ‘Jesus’. At my school they say ‘God’?” How do I explain that to a 5 year old. Hmmm. I thought for a second and said something about them being the same person, kind of like being called Ty and Tyler, just because I couldn't think of anything that was really accurate. He seemed satisfied for the moment, though.

That got me thinking about theology and faith. When I was in college it was common for us to sit around in little clusters and discuss the hows and whys of our faith. At that time I was dating a Christian Education major, so I spent my fair share of time debating theology and listening to it being debated. I guess I filled my quota of trying to understand every thing, every aspect - Creation, The Trinity, the “eternal now” – you name it. I have been content for some time just to accept that at one point in my life I rationalized and reasoned out everything I could until it just got down to having faith. Honestly, I feel like I just don’t have the energy to invest in anything more than just relying on faith now. When Tyler asked me about God & Jesus today, I momentarily drew a blank. I haven’t thought about all the hows and whys (just the ‘becauses’) for so long that I kind of felt unprepared.

When the Christian Education major arrived home from Texas this afternoon, I told him about Tyler’s question. (Danielle broke into her own version of "Jesus Loves Me" at this point.) Ron mentioned the Holy Spirit and I groaned, thinking this was just going to complicate things more. Tyler piped up, “We’ve talked about that at school, too!” Really? 5 year olds are discussing the Holy Spirit? Then Tyler added, “Something about him doing some moving.” That cracked me up. Anyway, without pause, Ron turned to Tyler and said, “God, Jesus, & the Holy Spirit are like an egg. An egg has 3 separate parts, right? A shell, that white stuff, and the yellow yolk. Even though it has those separate parts, it all combines to make one thing – an egg. That’s how it is with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. They are all separate but they combine to make one.” (I guess that major has some use after all.) I waited for Tyler to say he didn’t like eggs, but he didn’t. He processed that answer and tucked it away for later. And I tucked Ron's analogy away for later…just in case I need to be prepared.