Theology of a 3 year old

When I woke up on Saturday morning, Micah was already awake. I found him lying in his bed, and he had been doing some thinkin'. Right away he started talking to me about obedience - obeying mommy and daddy, obeying God, consequences when we don't obey, etc. Later that morning as we were all getting ready for the day, Micah had his thinking cap on again. He struck up another conversation about obedience and how it's good to obey God and mommy and daddy. We've already established with him that Micah's boss is mommy and daddy (and God), but that mommy and daddy have a boss too - God. When any of us don't obey our boss, there are consequences. However, when we're sorry, then we are forgiven. Micah is used to receiving a hug after he apologizes to one of us, and we tell him, "I forgive you." So, as we conversed on that Saturday morning, Scotty told Micah that when we tell God we're sorry, He forgives us too. Then Micah added, "God give us a hug!"

First of all, I thought it was absolutely sweet for him to say that, and then I realized it is his tangible way of understanding what "forgiveness" is. When he comes to us and apologizes, we are there to tell him we forgive him and also give him a hug to show him our love and restore our relationship. Forgiveness is a tough concept for a toddler to understand without some display of what it does. Micah's connecting of the dots was so precious.

I am thankful today that God chose to "hug" me! I pray Micah would continue to grow in understanding of Jesus who came to earth to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven and restored to God. What a loving, sacrificial and caring God we serve!