Children and Grief by Joey O'Connor

Author:Joey O'Connor [O’Connor, Joey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000, FAM014000
ISBN: 9781441231765
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2012-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

Jesus Cares about My Heart, My Mind, and My Hope

At the most basic level, especially with young children, building heaven in your child’s heart begins with letting your child know that Jesus cares about their heart (what they feel), their mind (their questions about life and death), and their hope (discovering hope in Christ for this life and the next). Let’s look at these three key ideas in more detail.

JESUS CARES ABOUT MY HEART

Feeling mad, sad, bad, or glad following a loss are all emotions Jesus felt when he lived on this earth. Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, entered this world as a baby, just as your children did; he grew in wisdom and stature as a young man, as your children are growing right now; and he became a man who fully experienced every joyful and painful emotion known to humankind. In John 16:20, the night before Jesus was crucified, he told his disciples about his imminent death and the accompanying emotions they would feel. Though his disciples didn’t completely understand the magnitude of what Jesus was saying, he told them, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” Jesus was preparing his disciples for the conflicting emotions they would feel in grieving over his death and the amazing joy they would also experience at his resurrection. At the death of a loved one, we can feel sorrow for our loss but joy knowing that they are with Christ in heaven.

JESUS CARES ABOUT MY MIND

Kids’ questions are important to Jesus. He does care what they are learning and knowing about life and death. No question is too small, silly, or strange for the One who invites children to come to him. The Bible is filled with stories about life, death, comfort, help, healing, and hope. Intertwined in all these stories is the reality of God’s presence in the midst of all of our questions, answered and unanswered.

This leads to a very important question many parents have asked me—How do I explain to my son or daughter why God didn’t heal a friend or family member who died? How do I explain why God allowed this accident to happen? The most truthful reply, based on what we do know, is (1) everyone experiences physical death; (2) we don’t know when our time to die is, only God does; (3) we don’t know why God chooses to allow people to die at certain times in certain ways; (4) there are plenty of things about our faith in God that we don’t know, because knowing everything (all-knowledge) is reserved for God alone; and (5) there is a lot of mystery with faith in Christ, but God has provided us with enough information in order to live in relationship with him. Faith in Christ accepts the truth that our knowledge as humans is limited. God is God, and I am not.

The most truthful and

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