God is in my belly

The other night, I was laying down with R to help him fall asleep. I started to say a prayer for him, but he interrupted me and yelled, "We forgot to sing Amazing Grace!" That used to be our bedtime routine for awhile. I'd rock him in the glider chair and sing Amazing Grace. Eventually, R learned the words and sang along with me. [I'll post another time about how amazingly this incident fits in with my reading of "What's So Amazing About Grace?" - a book that has really challenged me and inspired me on the subjects of grace and forgiveness.]

So, when I started to sing it this time, he started singing with me, but then he kept stopping to ask questions:

• "What is sound?"


• "What is a wrench?" (He knows what a wrench is, but he thought I was singing, "That saved a wrench like me")


• "What is found?"


• "What is blind?" etc.

Eventually, I started telling him about what I think the hymn means (in preschooler terms) - that God loves us so much, no matter what we do or how we feel about ourselves, his love is still there. And that he wants us to love other people just as much as he loves us.

R was quiet for a little while, and then he asked me, "But where is God?" Ah, my first major theological question from my child. So, I just told him that some people believe God is up in heaven, but that I think he's all around us - in trees and animals, in the Earth that makes things grow, beside us holding our hands, and that he's in our hearts and always with us even though we can't see him. (I did wonder for a second if the idea of some sort of "invisible man" being beside him all the time would freak R out, but he seemed OK with it.)

R's response was: "I think God is in my belly!"

Of course, that made me laugh, but I realize now that God is in my belly, too. Because I finally know in my gut that he's with me and speaking to me and working in my life. I see the evidence of it every day - in seemingly tiny ways and in bigger ways, and I'm so thankful.

Dear Lord, thank you for being with me always and for the gift of my son. I'm humbled and amazed by the responsibility of raising him. Help me to do the best job I can of helping him to be a person who readily gives and receives love. Amen.