After worship on Thursday, a girl came up to me a serious faith question on her mind. She couldn't have been older than 11. She said, "Hey, Spencer, can I ask you a question."
"Of course."
"I gave up sleeping with my stuffed animals for lent."
"Ok," I said with some surprise and hesitation on what she was going to ask me.
"But this weekend I'm having a sleep over and do you think God it would be ok if I slept with one?" So, now I'm wondering how to respond but I decide to engage this.
"Why would God not want you to sleep with them?"
"Because it will make him angry." Now my heart breaks because I see the conception of God in her mind. It is too similar to how I have seen God in my life.
"Why would God be angry with you?"
"Because it makes me happy to sleep with them."
"Does God not want you to be happy?" I ask, hopefully she will see the clear stupidity of that thought.
"Well, no God wants me to be happy...I think...that's a good question."
I see that she will clearly not come to this conclusion on her own so I go ahead and help her out.
"I think it is ok for you to sleep with your stuffed animals. God loves you and wants you to be happy. Giving something up isn't because God wants us to be miserable. God wants us to be happy and so you should go ahead and do this."
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