Questions from a 5-year old

Earlier this year, I received this e-mail from a parent of three little girls. The youngest, who is 5 had some very challenging questions for her parents, so the mother e-mailed me. Below are the questions and my answers in italics.

* You know how God made everyone? Well, who made God???

God is and always was - He is all powerful so, I guess you could say he made himself! But basically, this is a mystery to us.

* If Jesus is Mary's son, and God is Jesus's father, then why isn't God married to Mary? (I tried to answer this by explaining the immaculate conception, but that's a REALLY hard concept, especially for a five year-old.)

We are all God's children - God gives the babies to their parents to raise for him. At the end of our lives, God calls us back to heaven to live with Him. So God gave Mary and Joseph, Jesus to raise for him (just like he gave your girls to you and your husband to raise).

* How does God GET power to do everything?

God IS power - he is the source of all power and wisdom and thus just IS power.

Do you have any words of wisdom for us?

keep it simple, especially for a 5-year old. As adults we expect complicated answers especially to faith matters, but for children, the simpler the better.

(Used with permission)