A Childlike Faith

As a Christian, I do my best to talk about God with Gianna as often and as truthfully as I can. But truthfully I don't talk to others about God as I should. In the last 6 months, her understanding and vocabulary have grown as has her curiosity for all things related to God. Before bed and in the car is where I find the majority of our conversations take place, mostly because I have her undivided attention here. One day as we were driving and Gianna was rattling off her new favorite list of questions to me, "Who made that tree? Who made that dog? Who made that shadow?" All to which I reply God of course, she stopped and said, "Mom, God is SO awesome! I want to see him!" I chuckled and told her that someday she could but that right now we just have to see him through all the wonderful things he has made. She said, "Well, lets call him on your phone!?" I told her that would be nice but that God doesn't have a phone. (This she couldn't believe) I said that God is always listening to her and whenever she wants to talk to him she can through prayer. I could tell she wasn't satisfied but the conversation ended here.
Fast forward a few weeks later, we are driving in the car one morning and Gianna tells me that she saw God last night. Aw, how cute I think to myself and tell her how awesome dreams can be. Then she tells me that it wasn't a dream, it was real. Without hesitation, she broke into a very long very detailed story about an angel that was SO big and SO beautiful that came into her room. The angels name was Pashio and she let her pick out her own wings and Gigi chose butterfly wings and then she flew her up to see God. When they got there the angel put Gianna on God's lap. God told Gianna that he loved her SO much and then kissed her on her head and her hair turned to gold.
Uh, okay. I must admit I sat there dumbfounded trying to process her elaborate story. I asked her, "So, what was the angels name again?" in an attempt to test her. She replied, "My angels name is Pashio. That's a nice name huh mom?" Yeah, its really pretty I told her kind of stuck on the fact that she said HER angel and that she repeated this very weird name to me again. My mind went in two different directions. First, this girl has a super good imagination. Second, I read the book "Heaven is for Real" (which is a great little book that everyone should read) and I am a believer, so why should I discredit this account?
In the book, "Heaven is for Real," a pastor, a man who has devoted his life to the teachings of Christ, has a hard time believing his son when he says that he went up to heaven and sat on Jesus' lap during a surgery that he had. The child then begins to recount things that he saw from his seat above on Jesus' lap which make the pastor really question whether or not it could be a true account. What I got most from this book was the fact that we as adults struggle with having a "childlike faith" free of skepticism. Mark 10:14-15--“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” I have since tried to have more of a childlike faith. Remove the skepticism and pessimism and replace it with an open minded optimism.
Later that day, I told my mom about the story and how her imagination or dream was so detailed. My mom asked her to repeat it and to our surprise she told the story over again almost exactly as she had told me hours ago. Did I mention she's 2? Even if it was a story she thought up could she really repeat it? Possibly, but I kept getting stuck on Pashio. Such a weird name to remember. She went on to tell her dad about it later as well and then we just kind of went about our way and never really talked about it again. Until yesterday.
When we were driving down the road a man pulled out on his bike right in front of me to cross the street and I had to slam on my breaks so I wouldn't hit him. Gigi looked up from her coloring and asked what happened. I told her, in absolute frustration, that some jerk had pulled out in front of us and I almost hit him with our car. She asked me what the mans name was. I told her I didn't know and she said maybe it was Pashio. What? I asked her, Pashio the angel? She said yeah. I said That man didn't look like an angel honey. She said Pashio could be anybody and went back to coloring. I sat there in silence....humbled by my 2 year old. Of course that man could be an angel, of course anybody could be and I should know better than to respond so negatively to anyone. To be so quick to anger. Wait a minute. Who's teaching who here? And where does she get this stuff!?
I laid in bed last night rethinking what had happened and being utterly shocked that Pashio's name had come up again. Why is this all so perplexing to me? Am I not a believer? Am I not on a daily basis teaching my child to believe that which she cannot see? Regardless of whether or not Gigi has a really good imagination and memory or not why am I so shocked by her telling me something that coincides with what I already know and believe?
Then, I thought about why as an adult we, or at least I, struggle with the idea of the unknown so much. As a child we are taught the stories of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, all along with the stories of Jesus. How magical and exciting it all is! Then as we get older we slowly are told the truth that the magic we have embraced and understood to be real is a hoax a farce...all just for fun. Oh, except Jesus, all that walking on water and what not, that stuff is real. Uh, what? See what I mean? Our adult sense of skepticism really starts the day we learn Santa is made up and you silly have been believing a lie. Now, I by no means think that the miracles and truths of the bible are equal to that of the make believe land of the North Pole. I of course know that is absolutely not true but here is what I do struggle with. Getting back that "childlike faith". Miracles happen every day, Gods love is revealed to us in many ways every day but if someone other than I child told me that an angel visited them and told them that God loves them, I might be quick to hand them the number of the closest looney bin....wouldn't you? And even when my own child tells me that she was visited by an angel I can't help but think man, she has a great imagination. But, what if? What if Gianna was visited by an angel named Pashio. Why should I or anyone doubt her?
What if we all lived our life with more of a childlike faith? I know I could certainly benefit from this. Seeing the innocence in more things, seeing strangers as angels instead of jerks. Its hard to say you really are a believer if you don't, well believe. I'm not talking about whether or not you or I believe in God, I'm saying believing 100%, all the time that God is interacting with us and revealing his love to us in ways that may not seem conventional. If we open our hearts and minds and have a childlike faith we will see the world for more than what our post-santa believing pessimistic selves may see it. We may read this and believe what Gianna believes that an angel named Pashio, "Flew me up to the air to see God."