Diego and God's sovereignty

by Janel Breitenstein

I used FamilyLife’s Resurrection Eggs with my older two last Easter season (older children, that is, not eggs), and through a progression of events, God allowed me to glimpse His careful, quiet orchestration of my kids’ lives. It brought me genuine pleasure to see the story come alive, to see my son carry the eggs around the house (anyone else out there find that boys just love to haul things?) and ask me to “do” them. Less pleasure to try to find all the pieces and know that they’d likely never be properly organized again (“Does that Micro Machine go in here?”), but still great pleasure.

The week we pulled out the Resurrection Eggs, I was talking with my 3-year-old in a quiet kitchen on an overcast day. He’d just woken up from his nap with a rather endearing blonde bedhead, and was perched on a stool, ruminating on something. He said, referencing the Easter story, “Mom, is saved like rescuing animals from bad things?” He’d been watching a Diego DVD that week (as in Dora the Explorer’s cousin who runs an animal rescue with his parents). My recognition of God’s goodness to me in this question brought a goofy grin. How often do you get the chance to talk to your kids about what being saved really means?

So I got to tell him about what Jesus rescues us—rescues me—from: Hell, my sin, myself every day. Like when I want to be a mean, angry mommy, I explained, Jesus changes my heart. And sometimes I still don’t do the right thing, but He’s still saving me.

And this little conversation is part of what I love about God shepherding my children. I love that He is their shepherd more than I am. I love that He lays out a Diego animal rescue story while handing me Resurrection Eggs so that His boy can learn about how he can be rescued, how his mom is rescued. I love that He leads my kids to green pastures and still waters and paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. And I really love that He ordains praise from the mouths of children and infants. 

Comments

[maria]

I LOVE this, as my 2 1/2 year old daughter currently relates EVERYTHING to Diego! We will have to try the "rescue" connection too, thanks for sharing! : )