Is God A Superhero?

I get hard questions daily from my 4 year old...."Why do I have bad dreams sometimes?" "Why do you have to go to work in the middle of the night?" "When I get married one day can I still live with you and Daddy?" "Why can you tee-tee in the ocean, but not in the pool?" If you have a child at this age you know it goes on and on and on and on. Most of the time I can come up with an appropriate answer or at least one that is sufficient for her, but recently I got a question that really stumped me, that made me think and reminded me how important Big "B's" questions are and how thoughtfully I should consider every answer.

Out of the blue (like most of her questions) she asks me, "Mommy, is God a superhero?" Now, to give you some background - we pray together regularly, we talk about how powerful God is daily AND she's a huge Wonder Woman fan. At that moment, I almost said, "Sure, God's a superhero!" Then I thought for a second...God has superhero-like powers, but superheroes aren't real. I didn't want to confuse her. I really didn't know what to say. I gave a let me think about it..."Well..." I ended up saying that God is sort of like a superhero, but real and even more powerful. She accepted that answer but I doubted it. Would she have understood better if I had just gone with my gut and said "Yes. He is a superhero?"

I went to work asking co-workers and friends (of all different religions) for advice. It was a question that no one really had a quick or absolute answer for. I am still pondering it. Still worrying if I gave her the "right" answer. Questioning if I should have spent more time thinking about it and discussing it with her. I want her to have a firm understanding of God and his powers and what he can do in her life. It's hard for a 4 year old to understand and even harder for this first time mom to explain. I continue to ask for adivce on this one and I continue to get differing answers. It's a topic we will keep talking about regularly with Big "B".


I know as she gets older she'll have more fascinating questions for me and I know I will continue to probably give inadequate answers along the way, but what do you expect? I never claimed to be "Super Mom"!