God and Unicorns

I’ve been waiting to post this for some time but not had net coverage for a while. I was sitting at the table after lunch a week or so ago having an enjoyable conversation with my daughter Ella who is five – what we were talking about I am afraid I don’t recall. Suddenly Ella asked me really excitedly:

“Do you believe in God?”

“No” I replied pretty much immediately but not without a set of rationalisations flashing through my mind: did I want to discuss what she meant by God and explain why I couldn’t believe or perhaps couldn’t use the word? Saying no was my attempt, on the spur of the moment, to be straightforward and not beat about the bush with a five year old who I didn’t want to process the ins and outs of my relationship with the word God.

Ella was unfazed by my answer and without pause asked me:

“Do you believe in Unicorns?” In split seconds I imagined her belief in Unicorns and was uncomfortable contradicting it and found her question more difficult to answer.

“It depends what you mean by believe” I said.

“Do you believe in Unicorns?” she repeated simply.

“Well” I said awkwardly “if you mean do I believe there might be Unicorns actually living over there [pointing to the hillside] in that forest…”

“Do you believe in Unicorns?” Ella insisted.

“I’ve never seen one…” I attempted.

“But do you believe in Unicorns?”

“No” I finally replied with trepidation and discomfort.

“I do” Ella stated with complete confidence, “I believe in Unicorns; they live in fairyland!” She smiled, jumped down from her chair and went to play outside.