Taking Bibles to Church

The whole thing innocently started with a revelation for Sofie. Yesterday she runs up to me with my old college NIV Bible in hand... "Mom! Do you know that all my Sparks verses are in the Bible?!" ( For those of you who don't know, Sparks is part of a scripture memory club that Sofie attends on Wednesday night at our church, they also sing, play games, listen to stories...)She had been reading in the beginning of John and was recognizing some verses she had memorized.

So the rest of the day she is voraciously reading, trying to find more verses that she recognizes. Now at this point my heart is soaring and I'm so impressed that she is sitting on the couch laboring through being a beginning reader trying to read the John 1.

Well then this morning (Sunday) we are all getting ready for church, we are getting shoes and coats on and heading out the door. Now for those of you who don't know, it's stressful to get 3 kids out the door on Sunday morning. In the midst of all this Sofie asks, "Mom, can I bring the Bible to church?"

I say "No, it's big and heavy, you might forget it somewhere and we'll lose it, No." To which she starts to cry and promises to not do any of the things I listed. And I realize the absurdity of it all, I'm making my daughter cry because I won't let her take a Bible to Church! So then I, thankfully, was able to do a reality check, change my answer and let the poor girl bring her Bible to Church. The absurd twists and turns that parenting takes, huh.