Rebecca Loves Jesus

One of the things that has surprised (and delighted) us of late is Rebecca's passionate inquisitiveness about Jesus. Of course, she hears about Jesus throughout the year, but we especially talked about the birth of baby Jesus during Christmas. Since Rebecca loves babies, I think this piqued her interest. However, her questions have extended to why Jesus died to save us, why the mean king Herod wanted to kill him, what Jesus was like as a boy, how He did the miracles, who His friends were, and on and on.

A freqent refrain in the car is, "Mommy, tell me about Jesus" (the other frequent request is, "Mommy, tell me about when Sydney said "I don't care" - which is a silly story I made up about our dogs' reaction to Rebecca joining us as a family when she was born).

I think I am a fairly knowledgable person about basic tenets of Christianity. I know the foundational beliefs of the Catholic faith and Christianity in general. But I have to say that some of her questions have left me puzzled at how to answer! It's good experience to have to describe your faith to an almost four year old. If you get too abstract and aren't clear about what you mean, her look tells you that she is onto you!

This ongoing discussion has led to some interesting and hilarious comments from Rebecca.

A couple of my favorites:

As she was playing with one of her nativity sets, Rebecca asked me if Jesus has animals in Heaven. I took my cue from Billy Graham who has said that it would take having pets in Heaven for it to be perfect for us, then he has no doubt that there are animals in Heaven. So I said that if Jesus wanted animals in Heaven, then I was sure they were all there. She asked specifically about Mary's donkey, and I told her that a donkey that was given such a special job probably had a special place in Heaven. Rebecca looked at me rather dubiously and then said skeptically, "Well, I guess if it's in Heaven, then it won't make a mess in the house.

Our Rebecca eats like a bird. She probably does not consume more than a cupful of food in a single day. It is not uncommon that she will eat something, decide she's done, and an hour later wants a bite or two of something else. After a holiday dinner, Rebecca asked for a snack. I was a bit exasperated and said, "Rebecca, we JUST finished eating!" She said, "I think Jesus ate my dinner." Thinking that she was trying to make Jesus her scapegoat, I said, "Oh Rebecca..." and then she went on to say, "Well, Jesus lives in my heart. He got to eat something, don't he? So he eats my food!"

Some of her recent questions have included:

"How did God paint the sky?"
"Did God have brothers and sisters?"
"How did God get to be God?"
"Who are Jesus' grandparents?"
"Why did Jesus have to die to save us?"