I'm just wondering how young you were when you felt "called' to serve. Were you always close to G-d ?

My daughter Zoey is 4 1/2 and is constantly talk about and to G-d. She says all the meal time prayers because "i like to pray" Some of the songs she makes up, some of the imagination play she does includes G-d, Jesus and other biblical figures. my dh and I think she might be a preacher some day. She says some really amazingly touching moving things some times.

So for those of you who are pastors, preachers, other spiritual leaders now - were you always 'in tune' with you spiritual self ?

i'm thinking 4.5 is probably too young to be making any kind of meaningful guesses about her spiritual and/or professional future.

lol s... just wondering if most spiritual leaders thought about their spirituality at a young age or if it was something they were led to as adults

I mean right now if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up she'll tell you a mommy. Or a builder like daddy or bob the builder. So i'm not trying to make any "meaningful guesses".

Yesterday she told her sister she was going to be a hairdresser when she grows up so she can do her 'roots' LOL

but she's definetly got a relationship with G-d at a young age. So i am curious

I wanted to be a minister when I was a kid. In fact I used to giver sermons to my brother and my cousin, and sometimes to thin air. I liked the idea of teaching people about God.

I founded a pagan temple, I wrote a book on my religion, etc. and still feel called to a ministry though not in any tradtional way these days. (and no longer having any particular religion, you can probably see how difficult that might be!)

I was always interested in religion, but as a child I didn't feel called towards any specific path. I liked pretending to be a minister but i'm not sure at that age it meant anything.

I maintain, though, that you probably shouldn't read too much into it :)

I think it is sweet and endearing when a child has such a *child like* love for God. She is learning and growing, that is what is important.
BTW~Elizabeth is the same way. She is 3 1/2 years old. :)
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6
{Elizabeth knows this by heart and says it all the time.} :heart:

My oldest always seemed to have a strong grasp of the spiritual. He was able to grasp difficult spiritual ideas at a very young age. Once we passed a very horrible car accident and I asked the family to pray for the poeple involved, that all wouuld be okay. He said, "...or that if not, that they may go to heaven". In Catholic school they would often ask him about a future in the priesthood. He alwasy said no very adamantly. Now he wants to study theology in college, and the plan is to be an academic in the same field. He is discerning a vocation. And he's 18.

Nicky is also the same way. He loves church, loves sunday school, loves Jesus, prays about everything, asks if we can pray for this or that, constantly tells people about Jesus and asks about a zillion questions about him as well. He asks me who he can tell about Jesus, and of course I tell him everyone :D I always refer to him as a future pastor

Not a preacher or leader, but wanted to comment.

The way you described Zoey....that was me when I was young. Only my parents weren't very spiritual at all. If anything, talk about God made my mother clam up, it just wasn't something that she was open about at all. It got to me after a while. Until recently, I was very closed about my spirituality, God, Jesus. I am just breaking out of my shell.


My point? Embrace her openness, as I am sure you will.

I still regret not having joined the convent when I was in 7th grade. I was very close to doing it, only that wasn't very "cool". :rolleyes:

;pop:

Joshua is way in love with Jesus,,like adorably so. he will talk to him as if he is right there (and sometimes I just know he is, ya know?)...is always asking if he can fly in an airplane to go see Jesus (it is hard to explain the heaven concept to a 3 yr old)...he prays a lot...talks about wanting Jesus to come back down here today... He loves to do our dinner time prayer for us..

Neither of my other children were like this, though I raised them in the same sort of setting, with teaching at home as well as church, our faith is a part of our daily life and not just a Sunday thing.. (I worked in a ministry for 2 years, until I left to work on my true calling of midwifery)..but for Josh it is a very intense real thing he has embraced with all of his heart.

Cute story,,we had been looking for a hermit crab to be a companion to the one we were given. We had found one local petstore with some in stock, but the store was dirty and nothing seemed healthy, so we didn't take one home. Josh was soooo heartbroken, he cried and cried in the car. (he is intensely sensitive). So I asked him if he wanted to pray with me about it, and he did. So we prayed and asked Jesus to help Josh be content, and to give us peace, because we knew that even right then, God knew the perfect hermit crab for our family, and He would help us find him when the time was right.

We got done, and Josh solemly said "I want Jesus out of my heart",,surprised I asked why he would want that...he said "So he can find us the right hermit crab!"...I assured him that God is sooooooooo big that he can live in each of our hearts and find the right hermit crab all at the same time...

Spiritual care is a pretty broad field. Only some people end up pastors. But, to my eyes, your kid has some sense of the divine.

It's sort of like blessings and gifts. Just about everybody is really certain that their blessings and gifts are the right and the most important ones. So English teachers are really quite certain reading skills are more important, psychologists insist mental or emotional health is more important.........

It seems like if people are lucky, they get to pursue their natural inclinations, but the form is particular to themselves, not to what you dream for them. For instance, my brother has built things f.o.r.e.v.e.r.. and has read architecture and structure and design books forever. So my Dad, thinking of prestige and splendor, envisioned an architect. My brother restores old houses, one at a time. It's not prestigious and splendid, and my dad is really disappointed with him- but he's exactly himself.

so. maybe your child will be a peace activist, or a preacher, or a human resources manager, and take his approach to the world with him. It won't look like a ministry to you, but it will be, to him. Studs Terkel, in one of his books, interviews a former social worker/ priest who is now a real estate agent- one would think he'd gone to "the dark side," but he viewed his job as a very effective ministry- getting people into stable housing situations.

It certainly can't hurt to take his interests seriously, and begin looking for a spiritual language and practice.

ari