My husband and I are blessed with four boys ranging from ages 10 to 3. It is never ever dull around here. The situations we find ourselves in, and the questions our boys ask us, well, even in my wildest imagination I never could have imagined the thing that come up.
Take, for instance, the day our youngest turned three.

It is hard to describe to a three year old that it is his birthday. I put our “Happy Birthday Banner” above Abraham’s chair at our dining room table so he could see it as soon as he came down for breakfast that morning. He was thrilled with the banner, by the fact that we were all singing one of his most favorite songs and that at some point, a Bob the Builder cake may show up just for him.

On our way into school we were singing “Happy Birthday” to Abraham … again. His three older brothers were headed into school for the day and they wanted to get one more turn to sing the cheery song. From his car seat in the back I heard my little birthday boy ask me, “Where is my birthday?”

We tried to explain to him that his birthday was the entire day … all day long. He didn’t buy it. If he couldn’t see his birthday, how could he know if it was his birthday or not?

This stumped me. I want my boys to have happy birthdays, not confusing-is-it-really-my-birthday type birthdays. And as I thought on that throughout the day, I began to realize more and more that Abraham’s struggle to have a tangible birthday was a lot like our struggle with having faith in a God who we can’t see or touch.

Really, stick with me here!

How do you explain to someone that God is everywhere? He is in you and in Heaven. If you do happen to know how to explain this, please fill me in because my husband and I have tried exhaustively to explain this to our boys at various times. You know there is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, but you can’t see them. Though they are there; of this there is no doubt.

I love the comparison of how our faith in God is like the wind. You can’t see the wind but you can feel it and see the evidences of it so you have faith that it is there.

I tried this with my little birthday boy. “See, there is your birthday banner. Here is your Bob the Builder birthday cake. Here are your presents. It IS your birthday!”

This seemed to work. It’s not as if any child is going to turn away a birthday gift and say “Nope, I don’t think it’s my birthday so I will not be opening this gift you are giving me.”

Never would happen!

When he was all tucked into bed for the night, I took down the birthday banner. Put the leftover cake away. Brought the boxes out to be burned in our outdoor wood burner heater. All the wrapping paper was thrown away. The next morning when the now three year old came bounding down the steps (very rarely does he move slowly), he burst into the dining room and promptly began to wail. I thought he had stepped on a piece of plastic from the night before. His shoulders slumped in dejection as he began to cry “I not three! I just two!”

Here we go again with the wild questions! How do I explain this one? Without the birthday banner he was sure he was no longer three.
But my son’s newest struggle was not so unlike ours either. Not surrounded by our God believing friends, or in church, or in a Bible group, or our own personal Bible study, we begin to doubt God’s presence. A tough situation comes upon us and doubt pummels us. Are we really different? Are we really saved? Is God really in control? Does God really care or even exist?

Just like my little guy is really three, whether he has a birthday banner or not; God’s banner over us is always LOVE. We are a new creation in Christ because God said so. The truth is God IS here. He IS in control, even in our darkest moments whether we believe it or not.

I may not always have all the answers to my boys’ wild questions, but I am thankful that God has given us all the answers we need for our wild ones in the Bible.

Denise has been married to her husband for nearly 13 years,

has four boys ranging from the ages of 10 to 4, is a full time stay at

home mom on their family farm where they grow produce.  (She recently

was chosen the Fox 17 Morning Mom and has been having tons of fun with

that too!).  She keeps friends up to date with her blog

www.lifewithfourboys.com on the goings on of her always busy, always

has coffee on, home.

Denise Dykstra