Imparting Religion

I don't remember when Todd first started asking me questions about God and Heaven and other related spiritual topics. I do know that despite my lack of holding regular family home evenings, formal instruction, scripture reading, or other devotion times, we have had numerous discussions about gospel principles-much to my delight. Tonight was no different.

For quite some time Ryan's favorite and most-requested bedtime song has been "Teach Me to Walk in the Light." The past few nights Todd has also requested that I sing this song to him (mostly to copy Ryan, I think). As Todd listened to the lyrics, he wanted to understand what it was saying in the second verse: "Come, little child, and together we'll learn Of his commandments, that we may return Home to his presence, to live in his sight- Always, always to walk in the light." What did it mean by "return"? I tried to explain that just as we lived with Heavenly Father and Jesus before we came to Earth, we hoped to return to live with them again after we died, along with the rest of our family. Todd wanted to know specifics, including "Will we have a house?" I thought it sweet when Todd said that he wanted to come back to Earth after he went to Heaven. I asked him if he liked living on Earth, to which he answered that he did. I tried to explain that God would take care of us, that Heaven would be beautiful (though I don't remember what it looks like), and that once we were there with Heavenly Father, Jesus, and our family members, we wouldn't want to leave.

What has been surprising to me is how difficult it has been to answer most of Todd's gospel-related questions. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed the thought that he puts into his questions and the thoughts that it has sparked in me as I attempt to answer them.

Tonight, as I started winding down for bed I picked up my December/January 2008 Parenting magazine and read an article titled "Mom's-Eye View: Spiritual Lessons" by Dahlia Lithwick, with the heading "Now that I'm a mom, I realize how much my kids can teach me about God." It was a timely essay for me to read, and I particularly enjoyed the following: "Imparting religion, any religion, to small children is a conversation, a negotiation, a way of learning together, if it's going to be incorporated into their sense of themselves. And it's in the quiet spaces between those conversations and negotiations that my own spiritual life has expanded as well."