A few months ago, C. (9) asked us when we were going to tell L. (then 1) about God. “When will we teach him all about the Bible, and when will we talk to him about asking Jesus into his heart?”

I loved that C. was concerned about L.’s spiritual well-being. It was so sweet and tender-hearted, and I especially liked that he said “we” — he wants to be part of the process.

Chad and I explained that we’re already teaching L. about God in little ways. It happens when he sees us thank God for our meals, or when we read his Bible storybooks to him. Perhaps even when he watches Veggie Tales videos. (After all, “God made you special and He loves you very much” is certainly something we want L. to know about God.)

We told C. that as L. gets older, our teaching will change forms as appropriate — he’ll participate in family devotions, we’ll read books that go a little deeper, our conversations will touch on all the wonderful spiritual truths there are for him to learn.

C. was satisfied with that answer (glad to see that we weren’t shirking our parental responsibilities, I suppose) and dropped the subject.

In the past couple weeks, however, my mind has been brought back to that conversation, as I’ve watched some of the tiny seeds we’re planting begin to take root.

First, L. has started “praying.” I posted before about how he was always ready to fold hands and pray, any time, any place. But last week, he added words to those folded hands. Not necessarily words we could understand, mind you, but words nonetheless. Sitting at the table one night, I asked L. if he would like to say the prayers and he launched right in: “Mmm…ehh…yeah…mm…’kay…eh…mm…Ee-ben.”

The wording was much more complicated than that, with plenty of inflection and emphasis, but that’s as good a transcription as I can give you. And the next day, he was happy to play “repeat after me” at lunch. “Dear God, thank you for this food. Amen.” His sounded more like, “Ee Gah, Gu-gur da foo, Ee-ben” but you get the point.

Now, I don’t pretend that L. knows what prayer is. He doesn’t know that when we pray at mealtime, we’re expressing gratitude to the Creator of everything. But he knows that we pause before we eat, we quiet ourselves and take a moment to say something before diving in. That knowledge will grow, expand, deepen, but for now, a toddler prayer is enough. It’s a beginning.

The other thing I’ve noticed is the singing. We always — always — have Veggie Tales music playing in the car. It just makes the rides go more smoothly. And while I would guess that L. knows most of the songs by heart, he usually shows no evidence of that knowledge.

Except when “God is So Good” comes on. When Junior Asparagus starts singing that song, L. joins right in. I don’t know what it is about the song that he likes, but he gets quiet as the music begins, and moments later, I hear his tiny, sweet voice singing about the goodness of God. I usually have to blink back a tear or two.

Again, I know better than to think that L. knows exactly what he’s singing when he joins Junior. But I do know that these little things are laying a foundation in his heart. It’s these tiny, daily truths that will grow and spread, and prepare him to hear about the amazing love God has for him.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” When I hear L. pray or sing, I see a glimpse of the pure, simple trust that Christ was pointing out. L.’s too young to have a conscious trust. But his heart is open, and I pray that we are faithful to plant the seeds that will eventually, by God’s grace, lead to a harvest of faith.