Want to learn more about theology? Talk to a three-year-old. The study of theology should include a mandatory class on how three-year-olds experience God. All of the books, commentaries, studies, and wise masters of thought can’t hold a candle to the simple observation of these tiny theologians.

Many years ago I had a chance to be schooled by my then three-year-old grandson Connor. He put my seminary years to shame. And to the test. One morning we came upon a dead bird on the street on our walk. I remember my alarm bells instantly going off. Danger, danger, warning, Will Robinson!! You’re going to have to explain death in a minute! Sure enough:

Connor: What’s that?

Me: Oh, that’s a dead bird, Sweetie.

Connor: How did it die?

Me: It looks like maybe it fell out of its nest. (Or was attacked and dropped by a larger predator bird … quick .edit. … yeah, it fell out of its nest.)

Connor: Will it wake up?

This is when my sweating turned to praying. The concept of death is a terrible struggle for an adult, much less a concrete, literal thinker who has only been on the planet for 36 months.

Me: No, it won’t.

Connor: Then where will it go?

AHA! Something I know about! Here is a chance to talk to this boy about heaven! Eternal Life! The power of God! The hope! Something I can explain!

Me: It will go to heaven and live with Jesus.

Connor: How will it get there?

Me: God will take it there.

Connor: But how can God lift it up?

Enough with the concrete thinking, young man. We live by faith, not by sight! Boy was he putting my education to the test … and then I remembered a song he had just sung at his pre-school end-of-year program. Thanking God for all things Presbyterian, I said:

Me: Remember the song you just sang at pre-school?

Connor: Yes!

He started to sing “What a Mighty God We Serve.” I started to breathe again.

Me: So God is mighty enough to take the bird up to heaven.

Connor: Can God lift up a bird?

Me: Yes.

Connor: Can God lift up a bush?

Me: Yes.

Connor: Can God lift up a boat?

Me: Yes.

Connor: But God can’t lift up a cactus.

Me: Why not?

Connor: Because he will get a pokey poke.

Me: Its OK, God is stronger than a pokey poke.

We then worked through how God can lift up houses, helicopters, and sharks, even though they bite.

So, I have a simple question for you today. What are you carrying that is impossibly heavy? What burden, sin, problem, or regret are you lugging around that is absolutely crushing you?

And the second question is: Why?

Isaiah 40 ( Common English Bible)
Look up at the sky and consider:
    Who created these?
    The one who brings out their attendants one by one,
    summoning each of them by name.
Because of God’s great strength
    and mighty power, not one is missing.
²⁷ Why do you say, Jacob,
    and declare, Israel,
    “My way is hidden from the Lord,
    my God ignores my predicament”?
²⁸ Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard?
    The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the creator of the ends of the earth.
    He doesn’t grow tired or weary.
His understanding is beyond human reach,
²⁹     giving power to the tired
    and reviving the exhausted.
³⁰ Youths will become tired and weary,
    young men will certainly stumble;
³¹     but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength;
    they will fly up on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not be tired;
    they will walk and not be weary.

God can lift up any impossible thing that is weighing you down. He can lift you up on eagle’s wings, but only if you let him. Why carry it any longer? Give it over to God and let him do the heavy lifting from now on.

Fly Away by Michelle Robertson