Teaching a Four-Year Old About Death

Recently, Levi experienced his first encounter with the passing of someone he knew. An acquaintance of our family had been struggling with cancer in the past year and Levi visited him in the hospital a few times and prayed for him every night. Mr. Severs went home (at age 66) to be with Jesus in mid December. His memorial service was this past Saturday. Levi came with us and it stirred some questions in his mind about death. Since Saturday I have had to field some deep questions. I delivered the answers in delicate fashion as he is old enough to be afraid of things, yet I want to be truthful too.

Again, he asked me today, "Why do people die?" I simply told him that everyone will one day. He then asked "Where do they go?" Well , I explained one side of the coin today. I told him that if they ask Jesus to live in their hearts that they go to live in Heaven with Jesus. "So they aren't dead?" Well, I said, they are dead, but it just means that they aren't able to live on Earth anymore, they live in Heaven.

He went on to play, satisfied with my answer. Later he comes to me and says, "Mom, how does Jesus live in our hearts?" I told him that simply asking him to is enough. He then says, "Can you ask him to live in mine for me?" I told him that I couldn't do it for him, but that I could help. We then stood together in the kitchen and I helped him ask Jesus into his heart. After we finished, he looked at me with big excitement in his eyes and said, "I get to live with Jesus now!" I told him that I did too because I have Jesus in my heart too. He then proceeded to pepper me with a list of relatives and whether or not Jesus was in their heart.

Today is one of the happiest days in my life. I am humbled to be able to share this moment with my son. I know he doesn't fully understand the decision he has made, but honestly I don't think that matters right now. He will grow to know more and more and I will get to be a part of those days too. I am sure that Mr. Severs got to witness the whole encounter. Even in his passing, he is nurturing a young mind to ask questions and seek out his creator.