At Odds With Greek Gods

 My daughter loves to read. She will peruse anything she can get her hands on, including the Tennessee Blue Book (true story). Sometimes, she encounters a theme she really likes and will devour any book about it that she can find.

This year, she has enjoyed reading books by Rick Riordan, and she became obsessed with Greek mythology. She decided that she wanted to have a theme party based on the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. She made a Greek mythology trivia game using PowerPoint. She fashioned a costume to look like Artemis. She made some decorations. She was very excited.

The pandemic limited our ability to host a party, so we decided that she would have the party with her extended family during their annual camping trip. We asked her aunt, who knows some Greek, to give a mini lesson for the kids. We asked an uncle to have his sons act out a famous battle. Because everyone was staying in different cabins, and the Percy Jackson books involve cabins for each of the major Greek gods, we also made signs to hang up in the cabins. My daughter was really looking forward to sharing her interests with all of her cousins.

I was unable to go on the trip, so I had to wait until my family returned to hear how the party went. I asked my daughter how the party was; her face instantly fell. She told me that her uncle did not condone the activities because they revolved around "false gods." Before hanging up a sign in his cabin, he forced my daughter and his sons to pledge that there is only one true God and that the Greek gods are just myths. When the sign fell down, he refused to put it up again because "they aren't real gods anyway."

I was very sad for my daughter because she wasn't trying to spread a belief in the Greek gods to her cousins; she merely wanted to share her enthusiasm for the books she had been reading lately. I didn't say much at the time, though. I simply told her we'd have to host our own party when we were able.

I didn't think about again it for awhile until a couple weeks later, when we were saying grace before dinner. My daughter hesitated, then she said, "I feel guilty praying to God after what Uncle M said." "What do you mean?" I inquired. "Well, he said it would be a sin to believe in the Greek gods. And I don't believe in them, but he made me worry that maybe I do and that I'm sinning."

It was a power of suggestion thing, like when you go to the bathroom before heading out on a road trip. Then, when you get in the car and your mom asks if anyone has to go, you start to think that maybe you do. My daughter was afraid that her passionate interest in mythology might mean that she was veering into sinful territory. She was concerned she was betraying God, and as a result, she was afraid to talk to Him.

Now I was upset. My daughter had a simple, easy relationship with God up to this point. She was too young to have that start to crumble.

I am fortunate to teach across the hallway from a theology and math teacher who has also become one of my dearest friends. Additionally, she is the campus minister for the school, so part of her job is guiding our students in their faith. She is so accomplished and talented that I often forget she is younger than I am; her kind yet rational personality has kept me sane on multiple occasions. I reached out to her for advice on my latest issue.

She agreed that for a child as young as my daughter, her relationship with God should not be complicated. In other words, it should not be fear-based. She told me to let my daughter know that being interested in Greek mythology and enjoying her books are not bad things. If she put those things above God and neglected her relationship with God, that would be a problem, but it didn't sound like that was going on.

You can't choose your family, and inevitably some of them will cause you pain. My friend is among a circle of individuals I credit with having a positive relationship with my children and with keeping me focused on the important things. To start off this month of gratitude, I am so thankful for their presence in my life.