I walked in to the living room this morning to find my kids at each other’s throats as usual. Not an uncommon start to the day, but there did seem to be a heightened sense of tension on this occasion. As I arrived on the scene legs and arms were disentangled, small fists full of hair were released, and a whirlwind of small bodied appeared at my feet desperate to get their version of the story out first. A lot was clearly at stake.
Poppy it seems had gone to the window and staring out at the bleak rain-drenched scene requested that God intervene to stop the downpour so we could all get to school without the need for umbrellas (her Tweenie one is broken, so she had a vested interest in God turning in a positive result).
Sadly, as is so often the case, God’s intervention did not appear instantaneously and Poppy therefore turned her back on the window, stomped back to the settee and promptly declared God does not exist. Now her theory is of course nothing new, indeed very eminent social theorists have staked their reputations on making precisely the same pronouncement – I’m thinking here particularly of Steve Bruce’s scholarly best seller ‘God Is Dead’. But he didn’t have 7 year old Lily to contend with.
So I had walked into a scene which has been repeated in different guises for centuries past, and will no doubt continue to be so repeated for many centuries to come. Lily tearfully defending her right to believe in God, Poppy declaring God was defunct. In our case it ended in the youngest administering a kick to the eldest and all hell breaking out…
…and so began many of the wars we currently see raging across the world I guess...
Poppy it seems had gone to the window and staring out at the bleak rain-drenched scene requested that God intervene to stop the downpour so we could all get to school without the need for umbrellas (her Tweenie one is broken, so she had a vested interest in God turning in a positive result).
Sadly, as is so often the case, God’s intervention did not appear instantaneously and Poppy therefore turned her back on the window, stomped back to the settee and promptly declared God does not exist. Now her theory is of course nothing new, indeed very eminent social theorists have staked their reputations on making precisely the same pronouncement – I’m thinking here particularly of Steve Bruce’s scholarly best seller ‘God Is Dead’. But he didn’t have 7 year old Lily to contend with.
So I had walked into a scene which has been repeated in different guises for centuries past, and will no doubt continue to be so repeated for many centuries to come. Lily tearfully defending her right to believe in God, Poppy declaring God was defunct. In our case it ended in the youngest administering a kick to the eldest and all hell breaking out…
…and so began many of the wars we currently see raging across the world I guess...
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