Day 31: Hard Questions from Children

As a dad I get hard questions from my children all the time. I try as much as possible to answer their questions with the truth rather than copping out with answers like: "Because" or "God made it that way."

A few years ago one of my girls asked me a question that surprised me at how difficult it was to answer. She asked, "Who is Heavenly Father?"

We are a very religious family. We've taught our children about God and read scriptures with them since they were new-borns. In fact it was while we were reading a passage of scripture that referred to Heavenly Father that she asked her question.

I explained to her what I know about God. He is the father of our spirits. We are His children. He is your father. This last concept startled me. Not that I question whether God is my father, but the realization that by teaching my daughter that God was the father of her spirit like I was her father here on Earth, I had become the glass through which she would view her relationship with God. I felt ( and still feel) a tremendous burden not to distort her view of God by fogging the window.



If she is afraid of me, will she be afraid of God? If she thinks she is not important to me, will she think she is not important to Him? How will my relationship with her help or hinder her relationship with Him?

I'm not a perfect father by any means. I am constantly aware of how my actions influence my childrens' view of their Heavenly Father. I am grateful for the hard and often profound questions that come so freely and innocently from my children.