giving

Just wanted to share with you all one of the most recent conversations with my 4 year old.  

"Mom, today at school we talked about giving."  

     -Oh yeah?  Tell me about it.

"There was a boy who had a bunch of things and Jesus, you know mom, Jesus who is the same as God?, well, He asked the boy to give everything he had away."

     - Oh.  Was this a story from the Bible?  (thinking perhaps she was mixing up the details of  the story of Nicodemus)

"No, this was off a paper, mom.  And there were lots of pictures of toys.  The boy couldn't keep even one toy and he didn't have anywhere to sleep.  He did not even have a couch or a bed or anything to sleep on."

     - Oh, and was the boy OK in the end?

"NO.  He was not.  He was sad."

     - Well, Jesus does ask us to share with others, you know.  (We talk about this often).  

"Well, if Jesus asked me to give ALL my toys away, I would.  He just hasn't asked me."  

     - He does tell us, in the Bible, many examples of giving to others or selling what we have to be able to give to others, or even just looking after people who need things like...

(Interrupting me)  "But in the Bible it does NOT say "toys". 

     - You're right, it does not have the word "toys" (wondering how she knows this.)  BUT it definitely talks about being willing to give everything away if Jesus asks us to -- we always need to obey Him.  

"I know, mom.  I will.  Like, if someone doesn't have a house, they can live in ours.  And we will share our dinner with them and they can sleep in our house where it is warm."

And I smile.  And I hope that, as a family, God will ask and we will obey.