My Heart Has a Brain!

I absolutely love being in the car alone with Annsley.  In the quiet of the car, she and I will often have some of the best conversations.  Yesterday on our way to gymnastics, her questions turned to the spiritual side. A topic that comes up quite frequently is Nani, my grandmother and her great-grandmother, and heaven.  I was reiterating again to her that because Nani accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior that she is now in heaven.  So then the question progressed to how her body got to heaven and angels and all the other little things that goes with  a 7 year old's thinking.  I said that it was Nani's spirit that is in heaven--the part that was inside of her. 

Annsley:  So, where is the Spirit inside of you? 
Me:  Well, where is Jesus?
Annsley:  In my heart.
Me:  So that is where the Holy Spirit comes to live--to help you.  He's in your heart.
Annsley:  So, it's kinda like my heart has a brain!
Me: (I'm thinking that is a pretty good analogy!):  That's right.  (And because I want to impress upon Annsley and Kennedi that they are made righteous through Jesus Christ I continue...) And because you have the Holy Spirit in you, you have been made righteous in God's eyes.  When we have Jesus in our heart, the Holy Spirit makes us perfect.
Annsley:  But Mom, why do I still mess up sometimes?
Me:  Because you still have a fleshy body.  It's not perfect and never will be.  It's your spirit inside of you that has been made perfect--not your body or your brain. But Annsley, when God looks at you, no matter what you've done or haven't done, who does He see?
Annsley:  Jesus! 
Me:  (Amen!)  That's right! He only sees Jesus!  (I give myself a little silent high five for the day!) 

My high five for myself was short lived.  I decided take the opportunity again to remind Kennedi that God loves her so much no matter what, so I had the same type of discussion with Kennedi this morning.
 
Me:  Kennedi, where does Jesus live?
Kennedi: (pointing to her heart) In my heart.
Me:  Yes, and do you know that makes you perfect in God's eyes--no matter what?
Kennedi: (nodding)
Me:  Do you know that God only sees the inside of you?
Kennedi:  (Her little eyes getting big) "You mean He can't see my arms?
Me:  No--
Kennedi: My legs?  My tummy?
Me:  (I can tell this is heading South in a hurry.  I'm not quite how to proceed from here, so I lamely say): He can see all of you, but because of Jesus in your  heart, he only sees you as perfect.
Kennedi:  (Motioning in a circle on her chest): He can see my grinder.
Me:  Your grinder?
Kennedi:  Yes, I've got a grinder in here.  It chops up my food. 
Me:  (So much for our spiritual conversation.  I ditch that idea and decide to find out more about this so called grinder.)  Who told you about this grinder?
Kennedi: (shrugs) I don't know.  I just learned about it.
Me:  And what does it do?
Kennedi: (again circling her chest) My food goes down to here.  My grinder chops up my food.  Then my food goes around here. ( She makes a snake around her tummy and points to her back.)

How we progressed from God to the intestines, I'll never know.