Experiments In: The Trinity

If you've read my other blog posts on this topic, you'll know that my husband and I like to make life lessons fun for our kids (Experiments In: Watching What You Say and Experiments In: Needing Help).  In the summers, I would run themes that were fun for the kids and taught them something:  Science experiments, learning the kitchen, art, languages, gardening, etc.  One summer, the theme was science.  What a strange theme to use to teach God, then, huh?

The idea of the Trinity is a difficult concept even for adults.  How can God be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all at the same time?  And if I can't wrap my mind around that, how can I get my children to understand it?

This bright summer day, I gathered my little ducklings in the kitchen.  I had a cup of water and a tray of ice on the counter and a small saucepan on the stove.  

I passed around ice cubes.  "What is this?," I asked.  "Ice cubes," they replied (with DUH in their eyes).  "Tell me about these ice cubes."  They said things like cold, square, wet, clear, hard to hold.  I explained that there were molecules in the ice and that they were not moving very fast.  In ice, they are packed very close together and don't like to move much.

I gave one of them the water and asked them to pass it around.  "What is this?," I asked.  "Water," they replied (seriously, Mom?).  "Tell me about this water," I said.  I got answers like wet, bluish, clear, liquid.  I explained that there were molecules in this water, and that they were moving around in there all the time, a little faster than the ice.  In water, they are not very close together.

"Okay, what is ice?"  They assured me it was frozen water.  

"Okay, what is water?"  They assured me it was melted ice.

I had them put the ice cubes and water in the saucepan, and I turned on the heat.  Soon we had steam.  

This is my favorite part:  "What is steam?"  I watched as their faces morphed into an AHA! moment.  "It's water!  It came from the water and ice!"  

"Exactly.  So, you understand now that this is all just water in three forms: Frozen, liquid, and gas, right?  But it's still all just water."  And I saw their sweet faces show pride in themselves as they got it.

"This is exactly like God.  God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  But He's still God.  God in three forms, still God.  Understand?"

And boom.  They got it.  A difficult spiritual concept explained by science. 

The Trinity is a big deal in my house.  Yes, God for sure, but it also stands for my youngest, Austin, who was born at 3:33.  He's convinced the trinity is his symbol (and who could argue with that?).  We also have a dog named Trinity. Because who can resist paying tribute both to God and The Matrix at the same time?  

Yep.  We're godly and geeks at the same time.  Now you know.