When my oldest daughter was around 5 years old she would take her little wagon and gather stray golf balls on the outskirts of the country club near our home. She would then sell them for .50 each to the golfers. One day she had a wagon-full of golf balls that had a colored band around them. I told her those belonged to the country club’s driving range and that she would have to return them. Of course she was disheartened as she was already seeing dollar signs. She tried to justify keeping them to sell.
That Sunday at church she was lying in the pew beside me, supposedly asleep. (Our church felt it important that children stayed in the main sanctuary with the adults rather than have a separate childrens’ church). The message was about covetousness. The teacher explained that covetousness was the inordinate desire to acquire money even by questionable means.
My daughter sat straight up, looked at me and said, “Those golf balls!”
So my point is, even though the message may have been over her head, and even boring to a five-year old, she still learned a godly message. Don’t underestimate what children are hearing and learning.
