Cities and Knights and a Bit of Theology

We had a fun weekend just staying home, starting to take down Christmas decorations, looking for a new church (and then chickening out at the last minute and going to a familiar one because the potential church had a sign up reading: "Need hope/forgiveness? The Bible has an App for that." - on a side note, is that a good reason not to go visit? We resolved for one of us to try it some other week and if it's good, we'll all go back as a family.)

David and I spent both Saturday and Sunday nights playing Cities and Knights of Catan, an expansion to the game Settlers of Catan which I gave David for Christmas. It's surprisingly fun for just the two of us, though it would be a bit more challenging with more players. It's been a fun way for us to spend some quality time together, which aways makes for a good weekend.

Lucia helped us undecorate the tree this afternoon, and as soon as we got most of the ornaments off it, she said, "Can we put some new ones on the tree now?" I tried to explain that we were all done with Christmas for this season, but could get another tree again next Christmas. To her, that's "only" half a lifetime away. Can you imagine how long that must feel? (Not that she knows.) She was quite sad, but then quickly distracted to something else. Oh, the mind (and attention span) of a two-year-old. :)

One of the best moments of the day happened at Lucia's bedtime tonight. She asked if I could sing her a nightly favorite, "Der Mond ist aufgegangen", which I did. The last verse ends on something to the effect of "Lord, grant us and our sick neighbor peaceful sleep." Lucia is always very concerned about the sick neighbor and asks me, "Mama, why you sing dat, sick?" So... I tried to explain to her that there are always people who are sick somewhere, and that we are praying for them that God would help them get better and that they would have a good night's sleep. "But why are they sick?" (She's recently gotten into the why? stage...) So I said, "because the world is broken." "But why is the world broken?" So I tried to explain that by reminding her of one of her favorite Bible stories: Adam and Eve and the mean Snake in the garden. I said, "when Adam and Even listened to the mean Snake and disobeyed God, the world broke. That's when people started getting sick." (And a few more words to explain.) But then I said, "Do you know who is going to make the world whole again?" And she looked at me and said: "Jesus!" ... I'm sure she didn't understand all of what I was trying to explain, and I'm sure she would've answered "Jesus!" too if I had asked her a different question (like, "who is going to come visit us soon?"), but for now I'm just rejoicing in a precious moment with my big girl. And I'm thankful for the ways she keeps me focused (at times) on the simple yet beautiful truths that frame my existence.