The Two Kingdoms: A bedtime story by Nick Mangine

Nick's bedtime story goes like this:

There were two kingdoms. One on the right, and one on the left. And there's a road that goes right in between the two kingdoms. And whenever anyone walks down that road, the people on the right all say, "Hey, come over to our kingdom and be with us."

And the people in the kingdom on the left all say, "No, come over to the kingdom on the left and be with us."

And so some people that walk down the road they look at the kingdom on the right and they say, "Oh, the kingdom on the right is better than the kingdom on the left." And so they join the kingdom on the right.

But other people walk down the kingdom on the left and they say, "Oh, the kingdom on the left is better than the kingdom on the right." And so they join the kingdom on the left.

But some people walk down the road between the two kingdoms. And they see good things in the kingdom on the right and they see good things in the kingdoms on the left and they say, "I don't understand why I have to pick one kingdom over another."

Object lesson he went on to explain: A lot of people might tell you that you have to choose one or the other. In fact, even I (your father) tell you all the time, "You can't ride two horses with one deye (butt)." But I think Jesus would tell you that you don't have to pick the kingdom on the right or the kingdom on the left. That there might be a third way to make things work. And maybe it's our job to find the third way.

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That was the end of Nick's story. Which I think, in and of itself, is great. But then my favorite thing happened. Nia started thinking about it. And when Nia starts thinking about something, it's as if you can see the wheels in her brain turn and crank. And she said, "Here's one way you could choose. You could make a list of all the things that were good about the kingdom on the right. And you could make a list of all the things that were good about the kingdom on the left. And then you could look at the lists and see which has more good things. And then you could go there."

There was a pensive pause... then she slowly says "OR... you could go to the place that has less good things and try to make it better."

Another pensive pause... "That's probably what I would choose."

*sigh*

I love this kid. I love her heart. I love how her brain and heart work together.

(Stepping down off my proud mommy moment box now...)