The Resurrection

Death is not a pleasant experience, but in the eyes of a child, it need not be traumatic or final...

Rewind about twenty years ago to a week busy with two funerals for my hubby, who was pastor of a congregation in Kentucky.

I suppose we had talked about the funerals enough that our children were aware of them. That, and the fact they weren't afraid of a funeral home.

One of our deacons was the county mortician, and the children loved him dearly. It was nothing unusual for Bro. Mike to entertain the children in his office. There were also times he and his wife Sandy babysat for us, so the funeral home was just "part of the package" to our kiddos.

Now, back to our home there and when I nearly walked in on a "funeral service." It was taking place in our family room downstairs, and our two older children were conducting it for their little neighbor friend...

Ashley was properly laid out on the hearth with hands crossed over her chest and eyes closed. It became a real problem when she kept popping her head up to give directions to the funeral directors, who were 9 and 6 years old.

"You have to lie still," our daughter Melissa said. "You're dead, and you can't talk."

This silenced the deceased momentarily, but she then decided it was time to sing a hymn at her own funeral. Problem was, her hymn wasn't a hymn at all. She broke into song and dance, jiving all around the den in complete abandon.

I was hiding behind a stairwell, cracking up as quietly as I could!

Melissa, funeral director #1, asked our son Jason, funeral director #2, to conduct the service. He quickly proceeded, holding his little New Testament upside down and quoting parts of Psalm 23. (Ashley got back on the hearth and into position.)

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leads me beside still water ... He restores my soul..." Then he closed out with something profound:

"And when I wake up, I'll be refreshed."

How true! When the Lord comes back for us, He will wake up His children from their graves and take them home to glory. And when we wake up, we will definitely be refreshed in every way. We'll have a new body -- an eternal one that will never get tired again.

Thank the Lord for the understanding of little people. They trust so easily and accept things the Lord never intended to be difficult for us to understand or accept. Thank God for the resurrection of Christ, which makes our own resurrection possible!

As they say, out of the mouths of babes ...

(Photo above was taken of our three children on Easter Sunday - 1990)