You’ve heard the saying, “Bloom where you’re planted.” I feel like I have tried to do that in life, at least to some extent. I’ve had times when there have been bigger dreams that I wanted to pursue, but ultimately realized that I was right where I needed to be. About 3 years ago, we needed to start taking our son to therapy and the center we chose, that we felt would understand his needs the best, was almost an hour away. The “bloom where you’re planted” theory really came into play, as my son began to ask all sorts of questions about God, heaven, spiritual concerns – all starting when he was almost 6 years old. Out of that was born Minivan Theology – the concept that some of our best spiritual and theological discussions have happened in the van, on the way to or from therapy.

I want to insert a small comment here that I do not want this post to turn into a theological debate. I realize we all come from many different backgrounds and I don’t mean to offend or stir up any controversy with this post. My goal is to show you that every moment matters and that God will make the most of even the small details in our everyday lives. The examples that I’m going to use are some of the ones I remember best.

During his first year of therapy, he had sessions later in the afternoon on Wednesdays. One afternoon we were headed straight to church after his session. Out of the blue, he asked about going to heaven:
So, in order for someone to go to heaven, they have to have Jesus in their heart, right?
Yes.
So they do that by praying and asking Jesus to come into their heart, right?
Yes.
So, does God have to have Jesus in HIS heart to be able to stay in heaven?
(cricket sounds…)

Um, have *you* ever considered this? I know I had not. My perception was that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the three parts of the Trinity. However, to a child who is a very literal thinker, I can certainly see how he might have questions about this. (And no, he wasn’t being silly in all of this – he was completely serious.)

Are you wondering how I answered him? I told him that I was pretty sure that since God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit were the same, despite being separate parts of the Trinity, they would certainly be able to stay in heaven without having to go through the process of officially asking Jesus to be in their hearts.

That answer was sort of enough for him, but after at least 20 minutes of discussion on this, I assured him that we could ask Granddad when we got to church. (Having a grandfather who is a pastor and very knowledgeable on spiritual things is a blessing; my kids are doubly blessed as both of their grandfathers are pastors!) Upon arriving at church, we went to find Granddad and ask him if God needs Jesus in His heart. His answer was similar to mine – God is already perfect, by virtue of being God, and so he would not need to have Jesus in his heart.

Yesterday, we were listening to the Newsboys on the drive to therapy – the song “Breakfast” was on. The lyrics to one section are, “May this song remind you that they don’t serve breakfast in hell.” My little guy popped up, “They DON’T?!”

(Again – have you ever considered that detail?)

I told him that I was pretty sure that hell is a place of eternal torture. In Luke 16 we read about the rich man and Lazarus. That passage describes the rich man as being in torment in Hades. He begged Abraham to send Lazarus to give him just a drop of water to cool his tongue. My thought, based on this, is that if the rich man was begging for water, he probably didn’t have food either. I could be wrong, but that’s my best guess, and that is what I told my son today

The fact of the matter is that I don’t always know the answers to the questions he asks. Quite often I’m blown away at his level of thinking and the direction in which his questions seem to go. I sometimes feel inadequate to answer him because I personally do not tend to dig deeper into thinking through things. I often accept things at face value, but he certainly pushes me to think a little deeper. I think he continues to ask his questions, though, because I don’t dismiss him. Rather, I try to work through the questions with him, giving him (hopefully) sound answers from the Bible and skills to help with some critical thinking.

Bloom where you’re planted – even if it’s in the minivan driving to and from appointments or classes or activities. Don’t overlook the seemingly-small aspects of your day as they may just be where God chooses to do some heart work in us or our children. How about you – have you found God in aspects of your day where you weren’t expecting Him? Have your kids asked you about spiritual things that surprise you due to the depth of their thinking? For us it’s been our Minivan Theology sessions where we’ve looked a little more intently at situations that, personally, I’ve just taken on faith. I love these opportunities to encourage my children in their walk with God.