Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Do you answer Yes with your Life?

Questions Chelsea asked me when she was three years old:

Where is heaven? What does it mean to die? When I yawn why do my eyes water? How does water come to our house? How does our body make urine? What does God look like? Who was born first? Why can’t we make grapes in the kitchen with a recipe? Why do we have two nostrils? Where do words come from? When fish die do their fins turn into wings?

Does God feel scared?

No, I don’t believe God feels scared.

Does God feel happy?

Some questions just need to been asked, with each question the answer goes deeper and deeper… like a child who says, "why?" after every answer…

My Mother reminded me to answer, as honestly as I could, the why questions my children would ask. "That is how they learn, and after they have asked you a hundred times the same question, and they go to ask you yet again, simply ask, Why, back to them…they will have the answer."

The heart doesn’t question, it responds.

Comments

40 responses to “Do you answer Yes with your Life?”

  1. wishes&Heros

    I think your mother is right, but some of the questions were very funny.

    Reply
  2. Lee

    I love children’s questions. So pure.

    Reply
  3. Shannon Lewis

    I’ve gotten very similar questions with the “why” in addition. Then after a while I’d ask “Why do you think” as in “Why do you think you have two nostrils” (a question Jessica asked incidently), and she’d give the answer.
    Soemtimes their answers are the funniest, most thoughtful things.
    I love picking my kids brains to see what they’ll come up with.

    Reply
  4. susan

    children’s questions are always from the heart. your photo today corey is stunning.
    i love the stone? is is laying on. beautiful!

    Reply
  5. snowsparkle

    your patience and wisdom in answering the litany of questions is what your daughter will remember when she has children of her own. and your mom was right about turning the question back around to them… kids really do know the answers. i’ll have to share my “god’s boss” story on my blog soon.

    Reply
  6. tongue in cheek

    When answering every “why” that a child asks, you eventually arrive at the big bang.

    Reply
  7. Jeanne

    Children God bless them all and each of us to with appreciation and love for all the blessings bestowed upon us all………..
    Life is a gift to be celebrated each and every day!
    Love Jeanne
    Fabuous food for thought each day and your photographs are divine.
    I am so happy you are a friend of mine!
    Blessings!

    Reply
  8. cruststation

    Although I do not yet have children myself, I believe that an inquisitive child is an intelligent one. Always encourage questions and asking them back is an insight into how their little minds work…so wonderful!

    Reply
  9. gracie

    Let me guess.. your children are gifted thinkers?? Lots of fun and ideas galore but challenging 🙂
    Answering “yes” with your life…. reminds me of this Lorna Jenkins quote: “Children do not believe words, they believe lives”.

    Reply
  10. andrea

    Mmmmm, love the last line in this. Beautiful.
    a.

    Reply
  11. Kristy

    I remember my first boss telling I made a great employee but I must have been a very demanding child.I asked ‘Why?’He said’You’ve just answered your own question!’

    Reply
  12. Coco

    I love the idea of fishes’ fins turning into wings! Marvelous!

    Reply
  13. julie

    may our hearts remain (become renewed?) as wondrous and as faithful (naturally spiritual) as the pure hearts of children…

    Reply
  14. Jennifer

    Curiosity. Questions. Wondering… When do we start to think we know it all? Oh, to be like a child.

    Reply
  15. diana

    Love the stone in the background… and love “the heart doesn’t question… it responds ” I am going to remember that one.. I can use it… in fact I NEED to use it !

    Reply
  16. AscenderRisesAbove

    “why’s” and “knock knock jokes” –endless – then one day they find the answers to both…

    Reply
  17. ally bean

    a yoga instuctor used to remind us that “head bows to heart, that’s the place to start.”
    seems like it’s true when answering all the “why” questions.

    Reply
  18. mad

    Where do you get this stuff? You amaze me. Thank you…

    Reply
  19. Mary Jane

    this sacred heart is beautiful….as are your words today…toujours oui et jamais non…..

    Reply
  20. Lynda

    What a delighful blog! We immediately added it to our directory at delightfulblogs.com. If you have a chance we’d love to have you add the button at:
    http://www.delightfulblogs.com/submit.php
    best and I’m terribly longing for a trip to Paris…but your blog will have to do for now.
    Lynda
    Delight.com
    Delightfulblogs.com
    HipsterCards.com

    Reply
  21. Meredith

    It can be so hard (for me) to be patient with the why questions…

    Reply
  22. Paris Parfait

    Hi Corey – No time to post, but a quick read of yours! Lovely photo and the words are so true. I was at Charles de Gaulle sitting next to a three-year-old asking his mother endless questions. They’d traveled from India and were en route to Atlanta—–obviously exhausted, she was still doing her best to answer everything, with thought and humour. Like you said, with heart! Beautiful!
    A bientot,
    Tara

    Reply
  23. Cammy

    Reminds me of one day in the store with my then two-year-old dear daughter
    DD, pointing: Wha’dat?
    Me: It’s an apple.
    DD, pointing again: Wha’dat?
    Me: It’s an apple
    DD yet again: Wha’dat?
    Me: It’s an apple.
    Another Lady to me: My, you have a lot of patience.
    In fact, I don’t. But how else would DD learn how to speak English?– She spent the first year and a half of her life in an orphanage in a faraway land.
    By the way, she still loves apples.

    Reply
  24. amy rue

    My daughter, Ella, is now three years old and every other word is “why?”. I will also try to remember your Mother’s wisdom!

    Reply
  25. Josephine

    Fins into wings? What a wondrous imagination! Beautiful!

    Reply
  26. Francabollo

    You wrote, “When answering every ‘why’ that a child asks, you eventually arrive at the big bang.” That’s when you get Stephen Hawking on the line.

    Reply
  27. MB

    My child asked why and still does. So do I!
    “The heart does not question, it responds” — lovely!

    Reply
  28. la vie en rose

    big questions for a three-year-old. britton just turned three are you giving me a glimpse of what i have to look forward to? when he asks some of the questions i think i’m gonna ask him what he thinks and see what answers he comes up with afterall, sometimes i think children really do hold all the answers to some of the worlds toughest questions. we just forget the answers as we get older.

    Reply
  29. MCaplan

    I may have to set your blog as my homepage! That way whenever I launch my browser I will be confronted with youer amazing words and images!!

    Reply
  30. misschrisc

    Oh what a good mommy you are Cory. You see, aren’t they such wonderful little minds we get to mold and shape! This is why we never just say no to our little guy but no+why. How else would he know otherwise?

    Reply
  31. Laini

    What wonderful questions! I look forward to having little question-askers of my own some day!

    Reply
  32. Kerstin

    This reminds me of a question that I asked at the age of 5 when attending my first funeral. Apparently I looked all confused into the grave and asked my mother: “Mom, how does heaven get into earth?”

    Reply
  33. robinfoxpamperedinparis

    corey, now that my daughter is 16,she still asks why,the questions are harder,and sometimes my words do not help.growing up, boo hoo!!!!!!the biggest symbol my daughter and i share is of a heart.,so thank you for the moment!!yours across the ocean,robin

    Reply
  34. gracia

    I love this… and I have a question, “Why can’t we make grapes in the kitchen with a recipe?”. take care, gracia

    Reply
  35. naturegirl

    The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.

    Reply
  36. mary ann

    from the mouthes of babes…
    answering children’s thoughtful questions from the heart, full of love and patience…
    how right that is!
    🙂 mary ann

    Reply
  37. Nicole

    If the heart doesn’t question, but responds, then what questions? The head?
    For me, it sometimes feels like my heart asks questions that are much harder to answer than the tangible ones in my head. My heart says “What are you going to do with this pain?” while my head goes “Are we out of fabric softener – again?”
    I’m honestly not trying to be contrary. The first time I read that line I went “yes!” Then I read it again and kind of scratched my head and wrote this comment.

    Reply
  38. Gina

    Oh that picture! It ignites my heart.

    Reply
  39. jinxthegypsy

    Why can’t we make grapes in the kitchen with a recipe?
    Thats something i never thought of. Its amazing, the way childs mind works.

    Reply
  40. Claudia

    Wonderful!
    Yes, I believe God is happy. Because children ask questions ingenuously and because parents try to answer the questions sincerely and openhearted…
    Listen to the kids and see the world you thought you knew from a different side!

    Reply

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