Posts Tagged ‘children ’
Mommy, Did They Kill Jesus?
Send to KindleBy: Staci Stallings
This story actually happened about 5 years ago. It was just before the release of the movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” My daughters were 5 and 8 at the time. I was fascinated by the movie, so when the TV show about the making of it came on, I was excited about watching it. We all happened to be at home that night and sat down to watch. Toward the end of the show about the making (not the actual movie), my husband said, “Are you sure we should be watching this?” I was surprised. “What? Why?”
He pointed over to the two girls, who were staring at the TV, wide-eyed. But we were at the end of the show, so we watched to the end. When it was over, Kayla, the five-year-old came over to me in the chair. She had the saddest little eyes I’ve ever seen. She crawled into my lap and put her little head down. “Mommy, did they kill Jesus?”
My heart broke. I never even thought about the impact just the overview would be on her.
“Yes, sweetheart. They did.”
When she looked up, there were big old tears shimmering in her eyes. “But why? He didn’t do anything wrong.”
You know, sometimes kids understand it even better than we do!
It’s been five years, and now I have a new child who is trying to figure all of this out. On Good Friday, we shut everything off from noon to three–as we used to do when I was back home. No computer, no radio, no iPod, no phone calls. My now-little-one, Andrew, listened with his sisters as we read each piece of the Passion from the Bible every hour on the hour. That night we went to Nazareth for Good Friday services. As an older Catholic church, Nazareth has beautiful statue depictions on the wall of the stations–the fourteen stories of the agony of our Lord.
Andrew sat by me in church, and I could tell he was looking around. Suddenly, he leaned over to me and said, “Mom, is that the story of Jesus dying?” I was surprised. “Yeah, it is. How do you know that?”
“Well, over here He’s carrying the cross, and over there He’s on it.”
Smart kid. Never underestimate even young children. They are watching, they are absorbing, and they are learning and understanding far more than we give them credit for!
Vitally Important Pieces
By: Staci Stallings If you’ve ever watched basketball, I’m betting you never said, “Wow! Look how important the little pinky is to everything the players can do!” I sure never did–until last Friday. My middle daughter played her first fourth grade game. She played a grand total of 7:24. That’s one quarter plus…
Praying at Sunrise
By: Staci Stallings I grew up on a dairy farm. It wasn’t one of these massive things they have now. This was a family owned dairy, which means the family WORKED. During school, I was usually at the barn by 7. Okay, 7:05, but who was counting? I can’t say that I…
Teamwork
By: Staci Stallings You know, sometimes kids are so much smarter than we are. Let me tell you this story, and I think you’ll see what I mean. This last weekend we went to my daughter’s final track meet (3rd grade). At the meet, they have third grade girls and preschool teams. …
Raising Ragpickers
By: Staci Stallings The savior in Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Miracle in the World” is a mysterious old man with an affinity for what he calls human rags. In the story Og is the rag—an ambitious, successful magazine publisher who is burning out faster than a candle in water. The irony is…
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