Good vs Evil, Teachable Moments, and the Old Testament

Sister loves a princess story--Cinderella, Snow White, etc. Recently she has been asking about "the bad guys"-the wicked stepmother, the queen, and specifically Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. "Why did Maleficent want to hurt Sleeping Beauty? Was Sleeping Beauty scared of Maleficent?" I can't think of a time that she has encountered intentional malice and I think the concept is hard her to understand, and I tried to use this as a teachable moment with her.

I learned the idea of teachable moments while working in youth ministry in college. The goal of the teachable moment is to relate scripture and the truths of God into what is going on in your daily life. For example, we have been having our Spring overhaul in the yard. So while planting and pulling weeds (lots of weeds this year), these were a few of the scriptures that ran through my head to talk about with sister.

1 Corinthians 3:7 "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow," or the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, or John 15:1-8 . I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener...Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

So, that's the idea of the teachable moment, now back to Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. I thought, aha, teachable moment. I explained that Sleeping Beauty might have been scared when Maleficent turned herself into a dragon because she was big and strong. The good part was that even though Maleficent was strong, Philip loved Sleeping Beauty, fought for her, and defeated Maleficent. Just like we might have times that something is somehow bigger or stronger than we are and it seems we will be defeated, but God is always bigger and stronger than whatever our circumstances are and He defends us like Philip defended Sleeping Beauty.

I have to confess I thought, "good job, way to use an overcommercialized Disney story and use it to teach about God."

Her response? "Right Mommy, like Joshua at Jericho, or David and Goliath, or Moses and the Israelites with Pharaoh and the Egyptians?" That's right, she went Old Testament on me.

Me {proud of her, but also surprised, and somewhat dumbfounded} "Umm, why, yes, those are all good examples."

Apparently she has this "big guy vs the little guy" thing down already. Maybe we should start working on the larger catechism :). Seriously though, I love a teachable moment and I love that she is learning scripture. I hope that these lessons will stick with her and she can think back to them when she is older and in situations needing direction.