Swinging to Heaven

The kids are really enjoying their new playset, even in spite of the chilly weather. Today they were pretending to be spiders and were weaving pretend webs to catch pretend flies. Well, I guess not all the flies were pretend. I was a fly and the dog was a fly. Anyway, after they caught a fly, they pretended to drink its blood. While accurate, it’s a little disgusting, in my opinion. I asked Danielle where she learned to play like that. She smiled, pointed her little finger at me, and said “At church!”

Danielle really likes to be pushed high on the swings. She always asks to be pushed “high like a skyscraper” or “so high I can see God”. Today she wanted to see God. I finally pushed her high enough and she declared she could indeed see God. I asked her what He was doing, and she replied, “He’s building steps so we can get up there.” That led her to ramble on about wanting me to make her wings so she could fly up past the sun and into Heaven to see God. I continued to push her and said, “You know that’s not the way to get to Heaven, right?” She was drawing a blank on the answer I was looking for, so Tyler offered, “You can only get to Heaven through Jesus.” I added, “If you believe in God and tell Him you’re sorry for the things you’ve done wrong, He’ll take you to Heaven when you die.” (My condensed version of theology for the three year old mind.) Danielle immediately said, “I’m sorry God.” I was ready to have a tender moment, thinking my little girl was asking forgiveness for her sins (as she knows them) at the tender age of 3. Then she finished, “I’m sorry God, for killing Tyler and making him dead.” Ha ha ha! Giggle giggle. I should have known better.