Christian Living

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As we were wandering through the park one autumn afternoon, my young son asked me:
“Mom – do people need God less now than they used to?”
Now I have to say, that I wondered where this question had come from all of a sudden; I was a little taken aback.
“What makes you ask that, honey?” I queried, gently.
“Well… I was just thinking,” my son mused with a rather serious look on his face, “I was thinking that with better doctors and hospitals and technology and everything, that maybe people didn’t need God so much nowadays – maybe they actually needed Him more before, when these things weren’t around.”
Well, this surely was a kid’s way of critiquing the random trails of evolution, but I understood what my son was getting at. We sat down on a bench and took pleasure in admiring the turning colours of the deep autumn leaves. I was pleased at this respite; I had to think for a moment on this one.
“Honey, you’re right,” I replied eventually. “We do have more advanced medicine and technology these days and folks can live longer and hopefully enjoy healthier lives and everything, but I’m not so sure that means we need God less than we used to. Actually, I think that life these days is so full of choices and decisions, that we need God more than ever. We need to talk to Him above all the noise, above all the choices and all the demands that the world makes of us. Medicine can’t always save us,” I continued, “and technology is just a tool. We still have to ask God how to use it wisely. So, y’know sweetheart,” I concluded, thoughtfully, “I think we need to talk to God more than ever these days. Yes,” I added, sure of my own indefatigable logic, “I would say that if anything, we need God more these days….”
My voice drifted off while we sat and thought a little bit, together there on the bench. Then my son suddenly jumped up, the way children do, ready to run at the world and give it his all for the next ten or so minutes, ready to burn off some steam.
“Mom,” he called out over his shoulder, “Actually – you’re wrong!”
“What?” I responded, trying to temper my surprise.
My small son grinned broadly at me; he was sure of his facts on this one.
“We need God the same amount all of the time, whether it’s today or tomorrow or a hundred years ago. Nothing else matters,” he said.
And with that, he ran off to go and do what children do best – to play, leaving me to reflect on his most marvellous answer to the question.

© Laura Swindon-Ross, 2014.

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