Why?
Last Saturday I Skyped with my granddaughter Ellis who is two. She had in her hand a white round object. Here was our conversation:
Me: Ellis do you have an egg in your hand?
Ellis smiling:
No
Me: Ellis do you have a baseball in your hand?
Ellis smiling: No
Me: Ellis what do you have in your hand? (That should have been my first question!)
Ellis: It’s a snowball for you, Grandma Hope. Here!
At this point Ellis takes the snowball (made out of her all new, first- time- using PlayDoh) and hands it to me. She held it up to the camera. I reach my hand to my camera to take it.
Ellis (looking at her dad): Grandma Hope won’t take it.
Grandma Hope (pretending): I took it Ellis.
Ellis: No. Grandma Hope won’t take it. Why? (She looks at her dad Jason.)
Jason: Grandma Hope is in my IPad and can’t take it.
Ellis: Why?
Jason: She lives in Indiana and isn’t here.
Ellis: Why?
Jason: That’s where her house is.
Ellis: Why?
Jason: That’s where her kitties are.
Ellis: Why?
At this point Jason deftly distracts her with the new Duplo Legos she received from her Grammy and Grandpa who were visiting from Seattle, and we resumed our Skyping for a few moments before it was time to hang up.
Why?
Why?
Why?
A 2 year old’s favorite question seems to be “why.” Isn’t it ours as well? Especially when something senseless happens. Especially when bad things happen to good people. Not necessarily when bad things happen to bad people though, eh?
I believe all questions are good questions. I believe we learn through our questioning. I also know that asking the “why” question is not always the best question to ask if we are looking for an answer. Just ask a teenager why they did something. Or let someone ask me why I did something. There are a lot of “ums” and “wells” and “hmmms.”
In the Gospel lesson in Luke 13: 1-9 some bad things happen to people who are worshiping God. Really? Why would God allow bad things to happen to them while they are worshiping God? There’s that “why” question again.
I prefer to stick with things I know rather than asking or trying to answer a “why” question in instances like this. My belief system does not allow me to think that my God would do bad things to good people OR do bad things to bad people. Bad things happen as a result of choices, as a result of someone’s sinful nature, as a result of many things; however, not because God wills it.
Oh, yes, I do believe that good things can come of those bad things and can even draw me deeper into a relationship with God; however, I’ve seen it work the opposite, too, where someone cannot let go of thinking that God made the bad things happen or that God stood by and watched as they happened and allowed over 300 people to die on 9-11 or during other tragedies like Sandy Hook.
(I often wonder about praying prayers of thanks to God for the one child who lived during an airplane crash while all the others were killed. If I believe God spared that one child then doesn’t it logically follow that I believe God killed all the other passengers. That just doesn’t sit well with me or my beliefs. And, as a Christian, do we rejoice when people die or blame God? Lots of questions emerge in situations like that.)
Often stuff like this will drive people right out of the church. That’s very sad, especially because I cannot always give them a pat answer to bring them back to the church. But as Madonna sang: “Life is a mystery.” We try our best to answer questions about the gracious God we know, love and trust and to bring others into that amazing grace and help them stay there. The greatest relief for me is that I know it is not up to me. I do my best, but the Holy Spirit is in charge. I cling to the words in the Bible about the church in Acts and how they continued steadfast in prayer and eating together and sharing all things including their faith and GOD ADDED TO THEIR NUMBERS THOSE WHO WERE SAVED.
Thank you God for being in charge. Thanks for answering my whys with your open arms that welcome me home and allow me to rest and not be in control, not be independent, not be strong; but, be like a child, like Ellis questioning and enjoying PlayDoh and Duplo Legos.
