Say what you want about blood, but when it's spilled, it sure gets everyone's attention. My 5 year old daughter ended up with a nasty bloody nose during a play (?) - fight with her neighbour friend. Near as we grownups could make out, they were swiping at each other through a tent, which had been set up in the back-yard for a sleep-over for the punching boy's older brother.
As my daughter screamed, blood pouring out of her nose, everyone was drawn to her plight, of course freaking her out even more. Here I am, holding damp tissues to her nose, wondering what happened (the story didn't come out until she was calm).
As I gave her a bath, we realized that her shirt was quite bloodied. We both noticed that the blood stain seemed to land primarily on the Lion character (Aslan) of her "Narnia" t-shirt. If you've seen/read the Narnia film/book, you no-doubt know that Aslan represents Christ. Of course, this lead to a great discussion of Christ's sacrifice as we cleaned up. Yes, the discussion did involve Christ's shedding his blood for us. Some may say that this would be too traumatic a topic for a 5 year old. However, she was not horrified, but strangely calmed. When the impact of what Christ did for us on the cross hit her, she simply exclaimed: "Thank-you God!" She already knew what Christ had done, but I believe the experience of having her own blood shed (and feeling the pain of it) really drove home the precious blood of Christ for her.
The night had a happy ending, as we were able to go back to the birthday party, where my daughter and the boy played some more, albeit gentler games. We even had cake and ice-cream, and all was understood and/or forgiven.
No one likes blood, but it sure draws a crowd. I guess it's impossible to ignore. It sure is hard to watch it flow from your own child. Thank God there are times when the shedding of blood concludes with everyone at the party (who is hungry for it) eating cake and ice-cream.
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