This year the girls and I are reading a Children's Bible every morning. We recently finished the Old Testament and have been enjoying the New Testament. A few days ago I read the story about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.

In the middle of the story Lillie says, "Wait, what do you mean, the devil?" [she puts her fingers by her head to indicate horns] "They're not real, right?"

Grace jumps in, "Jesus had just been fasting for 40 days. He was probably really hungry and just had a vision or something."

That's my sweet rational girl. I was tempted to leave it at that.

I want my girls to strongly believe in God. I don't particularly care if they have strong feelings about Satan's existence. Because, frankly, I'm not sure where I fall on that subject.

I said, well, if it actually happened or it was just a vision, does it change the meaning of the story? They said no. So, we talked about what this was trying to tell us. Then, I said that there weren't devils with horns or tails, and Satan isn't going to talk to us. We talked a little bit about the war in heaven. They know about this from church, and I thought this was a safe way to talk about Satan.

It ended up being a good conversation. But, man, this parenting thing is hard sometimes. I want to be honest with my girls - and I was - but it's hard to say the right thing sometimes.

I totally believed in the existence of Satan when I was growing up. When I was trying to figure out my faith I decided I didn't believe in hell or any kind of evil incarnate. Now, I just feel like I don't know. I'm open to the fact that I don't have any answers. If Satan exists then he exists, whether or not I believe in him.

There is evil in this world, and I don't know what forms it takes. If Satan is a metaphor, it doesn't change the reality of evil. If there is an actual guy out there, that doesn't change things either.

But, is that something that you explain to a child? My mother-in-law says she felt that you teach your children black and white and when they get older, they'll see the grays. I agree, but I prefer to simply emphasize the white.