Yesterday, I was lying in bed with Asher. When I nap with him, I often find out what he’s been thinking about, because as he gets sleepy, he tends to throw out random details.
The topic of the day yesterday was theological in nature. Asher goes to a Christian preschool, and sometimes I can tell he is working to process and understand what people tell him there.
Claire is his classmate, and Claire has a little sister, Chloe, who is about Noah’s age. Asher and Claire must discuss their siblings, because Asher said, “Claire’s little sister, Chloe, thinks grace is a present that you can unwrap.”
I was momentarily confused, thinking he was talking about his teacher’s daughter, Grace. But then he continued.
“Chloe thinks grace from God is a real present, that you can unwrap. But grace from God is not a real present. It’s a fake present.”
While this was a little disturbing as well as funny, I knew what he meant. He has been taught that grace is a present. But his only knowledge of presents comes from Christmas and birthday presents. He’s three, people. “Real” means things you can see, like a box of legos. Things unseen, therefore, must be “fake.”
Somehow Asher stumbled on the root of one of the most fundamental religious disagreements. From the mouths of babes, I suppose.
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