“When the cares of my heart are many, thy consolations cheer my soul.” –Psalm 94:19
Death can be a hard subject to discuss and most of the time people avoid speaking about the topic. The one question that is generally asked when death occurs is “Why?”… Why did they have to die? Why did they have to leave me? Why…?
My four-year-old son is going through the Why/What/How/Where stage right now. “Mom, why is the sky blue? What are we going to do today? How much longer (when we’re driving)? Where do you have to go to get a pet monkey?” The list goes on. Most of the time I can give him an answer or attempt to explain. But there are those questions that come up that I’m not sure how to respond. “Why do you go to heaven when you die? What is Heaven like? How can I get to heaven? Where is Heaven located?”
My attempt in trying to explain Heaven to him, in four-year-old terms… Heaven is like a long vacation, there will be all the candy you want, baseball games playing all the time and all the Ninja Turtle toys you can imagine. Mainly, God and Jesus will be there and we will no longer want, fear or need anything. He was ready to get on a rocket ship and take off after I explained this. There was no fear, doubt or hesitation. He was ready to go! Even after explaining we couldn’t come back once we go to heaven he, quickly responded, “Why would we want to?”
His four-year-old imagination was working hard to imagine what Heaven would be like, but he also had a “Why” for that too. Once we know our loved ones are in Heaven, why would we want them to come back? Often, when we talk about death we focus on the negative impact we endure of losing someone here on earth and we don’t think about the wonderful utopia our loved ones are experiencing in Heaven. We may not know the “Why,” but knowing the complete bliss they are enjoying may just be enough for now.
Taylor Easttom, -Director of Children’s Ministry, St. Luke’s Edmond
