God to a Child

How can a parent introduce God to a child?

Sometimes, I'm bothered by how little my son knows about God. Not in the Biblical sense of course but in a "Who is God?" and "Why is He so angry if I play with my food?" way.

I guess it doesn't help that the mother is not exacly religious but who ever said religion and faith are the same? One has to do with practices and obedience and the other with trust and belief. And it really doesn't help that the mother also has so many issues she hasn't had time to sort out yet.

I've grown up to believe that one is entitled to believe in the God he or she chooses to believe in. What matters in the end is how we choose to live our lives and the decisions that we make along the way.

But that's diverting too much, how can I introduce God without scaring the crap out of my son and confusing him more?

I decided on the multimedia approach. I convinced him to watch Flying House with me. Though he was admitedly amazed by the technology of the house, he was a bit distraught with kids not being able to go home after their adventure in time traveling.

I decided to sincerely talk to him about God. At this point, the only thing that probably makes sense to him is that God gives him food to eat and so he mustn't play or throw it away. God will get angry if he hurts someone. He shouldn't hurt animals or destroy plants. And for a three-year-old that's probably more than enough.

Though I look forward to more conversations about God in the future I must endure the endless questions about "why is baby Jesus in a manger and not in a proper house," "why does he have animals in his room (the donkey, sheeps, and camels)," "why are there three grandfathers (the wise men) visiting the baby," etc.

In the long run, I want him to discover God in the way we all discover God, though experiences (painful or not) and hopefully still ask good ol' mom to help him sort things out.

happy lucky upload.mpg

various new pictures of my son jas (as of 15 october 2007)

numa numa julian

jas various kakulitan moments to the music of numa numa by ozone

birthday bruise

What is it with birthdays that we oftentimes evaluate and re-evaluate our entire lives? And we usually end up feeling confused and disappointed. I say, to hell with brithday psycho-analyzing and a great big toast to life for all its mind-blowing, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, wonderful, insightful, sweet, fantastic surprises.

Happy 26 to me and thanks to everyone who cares and loves me.

 

Speaking of surprises and nostalgia, check out pictures of me and Ryan, one Jajas ago.

 

 

fiction: SHORTCUTS

If you were like me who always wanted to take the shortcuts in life then you're probably familiar with my predicament at the moment:

I am seated on a school park bench approximately half a meter from the man of my dreams. He's reading what seems to be a very dog-eared textbook. His arms, mere centemeters from my right shoulder. His left knee, with his left leg currently under his other leg, is inches away from the hem of my frilly skirt...

I have a theory that attraction between two people can work both ways, it's just a matter of making your intentions clearer. Make the first move...

Without making a fool of yourself.

And if you're a girl like me, without looking like a total skank.

You see, I'm used to making things simple for myself and other people:

When the cashier announces P115, and all I have is P500, I hand Ninoy Aquino with P15 so that I can get an exact P400 instead of a messy (and time-consuming handling) of P300+P50+P20+P10+P5 bucks.

Thanks to Pythagoras, when I see the corner where I have to turn, if there's no obstacle I take the hypotenuse path. And no walking in curves, the shortest distance between to points is a straight line.

See? Shortcuts work, and make things easier, faster. Shortcuts... without making a fool of myself and looking like a total skank...

I figure, there's got to be a logical and economic way of quickening this turtle pace to close the contact... and to quote some unknown wise man.. to get it on, baby.

Masterplan:

(1)If I angle my body to the right and tuck my right leg under my left leg, then my knee is barely brushing his.

(2)If I pretend to be craning to look at the people walking past us over his head then I can almost smell his hair.

(3)If I prop my right arm on the backrest, as he does, my fingers would be mere milimeters from his fingers.

Hypothesis: When he sees me thisclose for the first time then he'd see me more than his______friend and more like his_friend and a potential girlfriend.

 

I lick my lips and take a deep breath.
Geronimo.

 

Body angling...ok
Craning acting... ok
Arm propping... ok

My bare knee tingles in anticipation, my nose breathing in a waft from his hair, my fingers aching to close the mere milimeters...

He lifts his head from what he's reading... his eyes roams over my face so close to his... looks at me for what seems to be an eternity... he tosses his textbook aside... takes my hand in his... his mouth mere inches from mine...

"Jods, lakad mo naman ako kay Marie oh."

 

I sighed turning away, hitting him on the head with the textbook and resuming our 0.5 meter distance.

Nope. We're miles, miles apart.