"Mommy, Tell me about Jesus!"

by Meredith Motley

How can I talk to my little ones about the Bible in a way that they can understand it? 

Jennifer asked Jesus to come into her heart on October 13, 2002. She was so precious shortly thereafter talking to her Grammy (John's mom) and Rah-Rah (her aunt). She explained that Jesus was now in her heart and he is her "ticket to heaven". Ever since then, she has been very curious about things of God, who goes to heaven and why, Passover, and even Communion. Here are some of the answers God has given me to answer her tough questions.

Heaven
"Mommy, are you going to be in heaven with me?"
"Yes Jen, I will be there too, so will Daddy, and Nana, and Papa, and Uncle "J", and anyone else who has Jesus in their heart."
"Will Grammy and Papou and Rah-Rah be there too?"
"I don't know Sweetie, we will have to ask them if they have Jesus and their ticket to heaven too, okay?"
"Okay"

Ten Plagues
We celebrated Passover this year with Nana and Papa (Teri and Mike) and talked with Jen about the slaves in Egypt, why God sent the plagues, the Last Supper and finally we all had communion together. Jennifer understood the story about the slaves and plagues because she had been watching the movie, "Prince of Egypt." She knew about Moses, and Pharaoh and some of the plagues, like frogs and flies. We made sure to explain to her that Jesus had this meal every year growing up, and then, had this meal with his friends before he died on the cross for our sins. She also learned that Jesus rose from the dead, and that made her very excited!

Passover and Communion
Just the other night, we were driving home, listening to Adventures in Odyssey - the episode with the Passover, and she said, "Mommy, I don't like the slaves." I told her, "No Sweetie, we like the slaves, they are God's people, he loves them very much. We don't like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, they were mean to God's people."
"Oh yeah, I don't like Pharaoh."
"Do you remember in the story when Moses told Pharaoh, 'Let my people go!', and Pharoh got grumpy and said 'no!', so do you remember what God did?"
"Yeah, He sent the yucky frogs and bugs, and yuckies like that. I don't like frogs and bugs, bleah!"
"Yep, that's right, God sent the frogs, and bugs, and darkness, all to spank Pharoh because he wouldn't let God's people go."
"Pharaoh was naughty"
Then, out of the blue she asked me, "Mommy, why did Jesus say to drink blood? I don't like blood, I think it's yucky."
"Jesus said to drink wine, so we drink grape juice, and He said, 'drink this to remember me and my blood shed for you.' And then he took bread and said, 'this is my body, eat and remember me.' He wanted us to remember what he did for us on the cross, that He poured out His blood for our sins and that His body was broken on the cross for us. He didn't tell us to drink blood, He told us to remember His blood when we drink grape juice. We need to always remember what He did for us on the cross so that our sins are washed away and we can go to heaven."
"Oh, that's good, 'cause I don't want to drink blood."
We have conversations like this often, where she picks up on a topic in daily conversation, and is curious about what she heard, or thinks she heard. Many times, I have to remind myself that she is only three, and needs only enough information to answer her question, no more. If she is still confused, I know that she will ask for more info, until then, she's good with the knowledge given to her.
Talk with your children about Bible stories, especially around the holidays. Talk to them about the Christmas story, as well as Hannukah and how Jesus celebrated Hannukah.