PATRICK, GOD, AND JESUS

 

My daughter and her family do not attend church and follow no religious doctrine. And before you pass judgment on her beliefs, or rather non-beliefs, you should know that she is more generous and compassionate toward those less fortunate than anyone I know, including all the “good” Christians I’ve met along the way. 

 

It got our attention when my six-year-old grandson, Patrick, recently revealed that God speaks to him.  When I asked what God said, he replied, “He tells me hello.”  I responded that it must be comforting to have God whispering in his ear.  He casually agreed and flatly stated, “It is.”

 

I received a message from him a few days ago while he was visiting London with his parents.  He texted, “I believe in God and see Jesus at the graveyard.  I swear.” Whatever image he was experiencing had to be vital for me to know, so I texted back, “I support whatever you believe because I’ll always love you.”  Patrick wanted to know what I meant by that statement, and I repeated that I loved him and he had a right to believe whatever he wished.

 

When I told a friend, Harrell, the story about Patrick’s encounters with God and Jesus, he was curious to know if my grandson described the physical appearance of God and Jesus.  I asked Patrick after they returned home to tell me what he saw.  My grandson quickly stood up straight while stretching his arms widely and exclaimed, “He looked like this.”  I asked Patrick if Jesus was on a cross, and his little head nodded up and down.  I then asked if it was a sculpture that he saw, and he answered affirmatively that he viewed it in a graveyard.  Hence, ‘I saw Jesus in the graveyard’ was a literal statement.  

 

God telling him ‘Hello’ is just as natural, and I am ecstatic that hearing God’s voice gives him comfort.  Wouldn’t we all love it if a higher power literally spoke to us, whether the higher power was God, Allah, the Buddha, etc.?  Maybe an innocent child is open to hearing that voice, and perhaps the deafening sound of life gets in our way as we age, preventing us from hearing anything of such magnitude.

 

Sometimes, you must walk through weeds before discovering a field of beautiful wildflowers just around the bend.



 


 

 



 

 

 

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