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34: Faith-Filled Parenting: How To Talk To Your Kid About Death
267 Plays3 years ago
Jill asked Hannah Lang and Laura Fleetwood to be a part of this new series about Faith-Filled Parenting. Hannah is the Director of Children’s Ministry at Messiah St. Charles. Laura is Jill’s spiritual mentor and mom to two teenage daughters. Hannah will tackle the elementary age (birth-5th grade) and Laura Fleetwood will tackle the secondary age (6th-12th grade).
Resources from Hannah:
*Scripture referenced: Revelation 21:1-5 and Revelation 21:18-25 and Isaiah 11:6-9
*A great podcast episode you can listen to with your kids: https://www.kbspodcast.com/podcast/episode/35ce960c/137a-heaven
*Article: The Truth about Talking to your Children About Loss
*Recommended books -
Goodbye to Goodbyes by Lauren Chandler
Heaven is a Wonderful Place by Joanne Marxhausen
Remembering My Someone Special: Grieving Journal for Kids by Jane Wilke
I Will Not Be Afraid by Michelle Medlock Adams
Normal Goes A Long Way Website: https://www.normalgoesalongway.com/
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Normal Goes A Long Way is brought to you by Messiah St. Charles: https://messiahstcharles.org/
Use my special link https://zen.ai/normalgoesalongway and use Normal Goes A Long Way to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr
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Transcript
Introduction to Zencastr and Podcasting Tools
00:00:00
Speaker
The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Before we get into this week's episode, I'd actually like to talk to you about how I'm recording this week's episode. A lot of times I'll hear people tell me they want to start a podcast, but they shy away from it because
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Speaker
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Speaker
Everything is built right in to make it so easy for you. And let me add, I've been so impressed with Zincaster. I actually had this podcast distributed through a different hosting site and switched to Zincaster because I just love everything that they're doing. You don't need to worry about a fancy studio or fancy equipment.
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Speaker
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Jill Devine's Podcast Journey and Faith Focus
00:02:03
Speaker
Christianity has become known for judgy people. Strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members-only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yet, here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes Along Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
Parenting with Faith: Discussing Death with Children
00:02:42
Speaker
Welcome to our faith-filled parenting series of Normal Goes Along Way. Angel Devine, along with Hannah Lang, we are going to
00:02:53
Speaker
cover death today. So how do you talk to your kid about death? Hannah is going to start first with our elementary age kiddos and then Laura Fleetwood will come on to talk about the secondary age and
00:03:08
Speaker
It's not anybody that listens or knows me. This is not easy for me. I don't think a lot of people think it's easy to talk about death, but it has been a pain point for me as far as a barrier with my faith journey in many ways. But I've been able to talk about death a little bit more openly, I think, since being on this faith journey.
Personal Challenges with Death Conversations
00:03:39
Speaker
Things that contribute to that are the girls because being so young and my husband and I being the advanced maternal age, we've done our will and trust and one of the things that was brought to our attention is, hey, with the younger ones, if something were to happen,
00:04:02
Speaker
A, right now they can't make the decisions for you. B, you don't want them to make the decisions for you. So, it forced my husband and I to have a really good conversation about, hey, what are our wishes? So, I have been able to talk about that a little bit, but then something happened the other night and Charlie, the youngest, she asked me if I was going to die.
00:04:28
Speaker
And of course, I'm sure you can imagine like, I tried to put on that fake face and immediately I'm like sweating.
00:04:37
Speaker
And I pause and Lou, the oldest, she popped up and she said, we're all going to die in a very matter of fact way. And I kind of wanted to hear how their conversation would play out. And so, yeah, Lou said, yes, everyone dies, but it's okay. And then this upset Charlie. And then she started going through our family. She said, I don't want you to die, mommy. I don't want daddy to die, mommy. I don't want sissy to die. I don't want to die. And,
00:05:07
Speaker
I probably, I'm not really even sure what I said in the moment. I comforted her and I said, how about we talk about this another time? Yeah. And it's interesting that Lou has never really talked about death at all and Charlie has. And so I don't know what is happening with that, but then something
Children's Perspectives on Death
00:05:37
Speaker
Recently happened with a friend she lost her dad and so then the death thing has been creeping up into my head a lot more lately and I'm Uncomfortable and so I know I'm uncomfortable with myself. How the heck am I gonna talk about it with my kids? Right? Well, and like you just illustrated This is something that is gonna come up when the kids want to talk about it, right?
00:05:58
Speaker
Not when you want to talk about it, so it can come up in a really unexpected time. Or sometimes in this life, death is unexpected, and death is tragic, and it can hit your family or someone close to you. And so it's sort of like, got to be prepared to have that conversation, even though you don't know when to have that conversation. Because maybe you're tucking your kids into bed, and you get a question like that, that blindsides you a little bit.
00:06:23
Speaker
I don't sleep as it is. And then that happens before bed. I'm like, right. Yes. Well, and like you said, death is hard to talk about for a lot of people. And especially when you maybe feel the pressure of shaping what your child's understanding of a big topic like that is, it can be really scary to dive in because you don't want to say the wrong thing and you want to be comforting. But we can't shield our kids from death because that's part of life.
Explaining Afterlife to Kids Through Religion
00:06:50
Speaker
And they're going to experience it at some point, whether it's the death of their goldfish or
00:06:53
Speaker
Or you know some someone someone that they love or someone a little closer to them So yeah, it's a hard it's a it's a hard thing before we get into that because You have questions about goldfish and dogs and then going to heaven from kids of course, but do you feel? that and maybe it's Maybe it's based on your family. I feel like you did not talk about death with kids like if my mom
00:07:23
Speaker
were to, if I said, oh, I'm going to awake, and I'm just using my friend's father as an example, and so I say, I'm going to awake in front of my girls. I can sense that my mom is uncomfortable with that. Or like, we don't
00:07:39
Speaker
the kids don't need to know what that is or we know not too long ago Queen Elizabeth died and it was all over the news and I kind of feel like if my kids were right there and they were said what does it mean that she died that and I'm not trying to throw my mom under the bus but I do feel like it has it has been a shielded thing like we can't talk about
00:08:07
Speaker
Well, because it's a sense of protection. You want to protect them from sad and scary things, right? When I became a parent, I realized, I just want to, part of me wanted to put my little kiddo in a bubble so that nothing bad ever happened to them. Because you just have that sense of you don't want to make life too sad for them. But could it also be that?
00:08:25
Speaker
you're uncomfortable. Totally. Totally. Yeah. Or because you don't know what death is or maybe you've got questions about heaven or maybe you have questions about, you know, just anything surrounding that topic. And so it can be hard to talk about something that you're not even sure you know the answers to also. Okay. So then how do you answer those questions when
00:08:46
Speaker
your child's goldfish dies and they say, are they in heaven? Or when your dog dies, are they in heaven? Well, okay. So let's go to the Bible and see what the Bible says about it. What I like to remind kids when I'm teaching them every week, whenever we open the Bible on Sunday morning, I say,
00:09:05
Speaker
OK, so whose words are in the Bible? God's. God's words are in the Bible. Can we trust what God says? Yes, we can trust what God says. Does that mean we can trust what's in the Bible? Yes. And so I just remind kids that we can trust God's words and we can trust what's in the Bible. So in the Bible, we have a few different passages that talk about heaven. And so some of them talk about how it's going to be a new earth. Do we have animals on earth? Yes, we do. So that tells me there's going to be animals in heaven.
00:09:34
Speaker
And if your kiddo says, is my goldfish in heaven? I'll say, well, what do you think? And if they've got a specific answer, yes or no, I usually let them run with that. And I love to be encouraging about God loves you, and God loves his creation, and God made goldfish. And so I am sure that goldfish are in heaven. And again, we are talking about elementary age right now. We're going to get Laura's perspective
00:10:03
Speaker
here in a minute. So I like that. I like the turn it around on him. Yeah, what do you think? Okay, so then they ask about their goldfish and then they say,
00:10:20
Speaker
Why do I have to die? That's a hard one because that's so sad because you don't want to think about your child dying, right? Well, I would say there is something called sin in the world. And because of sin, that means bad and sad and scary things happen in the world. And because of sin, everyone is going to die. But
00:10:42
Speaker
When you die, that just means you stop living on earth and start living in heaven with God. I really like that image of it just being no longer living on earth, but there's the promise of resurrection. So the word resurrection is really big for the kiddo. But depending on if you're talking to a three-year-old or a third grader, they may have heard the story of Jesus' resurrection. So I want to always turn these death conversations towards the truth that we know about Jesus.
00:11:12
Speaker
What we know about Jesus is that He didn't want us to die. It made Him sad that people would die. That wasn't God's plan. It wasn't God's plan for people to die. It made God sad when sin came to the earth. And so He's not a rescuer! Jesus is our rescuer! Because Jesus came,
00:11:30
Speaker
and rescued us from our sin. That means we do get to live and we get to live in heaven with Jesus. So that question of why do people die is so hard, especially if it's specific to a person. Why did grandma die? Why did her mom die? Why did my dog die? Because we
Resources for Children's Grief and Understanding
00:11:49
Speaker
don't
00:11:49
Speaker
have a good specific answer that feels satisfying sometimes, especially because we're wrestling with the same thing. But the truth of the matter is death is in the world because sin is in the world. But that's not where the story ends. We always want to point kids to Jesus because Jesus is the rescuer, which means Jesus gives us life. Well, what does heaven look like?
00:12:15
Speaker
Oh, I love talking about this. I love talking about this. You do? I do. Yeah, it's really fun. Well, again, I'm going to turn it back in the kiddo. What do you think heaven looks like? Right? Just because it's really fun to talk about and see what they may have heard. So let's go back to the Bible again. So there's a few passages in the Bible that tell us what heaven looks like. One of those passages is in Revelation. That's the last book of the Bible. And a man named John was given a vision of heaven.
00:12:39
Speaker
So it would be fun to read that section of scripture with your kids. Let's go read it together. Let's see what the Bible says about what heaven looks like. So the Bible says that heaven is a new city. So can you think about the coolest city you've ever seen? What's in a city?
00:12:57
Speaker
The Bible also talks about there being gold and jewels. The Bible talks about there's no need for the sun because we have light from Jesus. Jesus is our light. He's shining bright, so we don't need a sun. I didn't know that. Yeah. Isn't that interesting? The Bible also talks about how everything will be perfect and no one will cry and no one will be hurt and no one will ever get scared or sad.
00:13:24
Speaker
So that's a really wonderful thing to look forward to, right? Every time a child thinks about heaven and I remind them it's going to be perfect, sometimes that word doesn't resonate with them. But because preschoolers and early elementary kids really experience a lot of things with their senses, I say, you're no longer going to cry in heaven. You're no longer going to stub your toe in heaven. You're never going to fight with your siblings in heaven. Everything is perfect.
00:13:51
Speaker
So we know that about heaven. We also hear in the book of Isaiah that I think it says, I'm going to get the animals wrong. Sorry to my theology professors. But like all the animals would get along with each other basically. So it says a little child will lead a lion. You know, I would ask a kid, I don't know about you, but I don't really want to go on a walk with a lion. Because what would happen on the earth? Uh oh.
00:14:17
Speaker
What would a lion do? But in heaven, remember, there's nothing going to be anything bad, so you can hang out with a lion. That reminds me of Encanto, the movie Encanto. Have you seen? Yes. Have I seen Encanto? Come on.
00:14:32
Speaker
But when he gets his superpower and or whatever the you know what it is and then and then he's with all the animals. He can hear the animals. He knows what they're saying. Right. Right. That would be heaven for someone. Yes. Right. So think about the Garden of Eden. Everyone lived in perfect harmony. So we see that like the wolf and the I think it says the wolf and the lamb will lay together because they're not going to be fighting or trying to eat each other. So
00:14:57
Speaker
There's some really specific picture images in the Bible that I love to show kids because that, you know, is something they can relate to. And I'd love to ask kids to draw me pictures of heaven, of what they think that's going to look like, because sometimes it's, you know, a swimming pool full of never-ending skittles, because we love skittles, right? But if you go to the Bible and see those specific images and just remind them that you get to live and you're living with God,
00:15:22
Speaker
and you're living in a perfect space and God is the sun and there's jewels and there's gold and it's a new city and it's a perfect earth and everyone gets along and there's no tears and I love talking about heaven with kids. Before we get Laura's perspective, I would like for you to provide some resources and any last-minute comments that you believe
00:15:47
Speaker
parents or grandparents listening, anyone listening that has an elementary kiddo in their life that death might get brought up or they might experience that in the family. So sometimes it'll be like your situation where randomly you'll get a question about death, but a lot of times you have to talk about death just because your family's been affected by death. And so sometimes that can mean your child is going through some grief. So some bits of advice that I would give is
00:16:17
Speaker
let your children feel all their feelings. There's no wrong emotion. There's no wrong way to grieve. In fact, there's lots of different ways to grieve. Grief is a roller coaster that can come and go and come at different times. So remind your children that they are safe and they're allowed to feel all their feelings. If it is a death that's really close to your child, I would highly recommend putting your child in a therapy environment.
00:16:42
Speaker
Just to help them process and talk about their feelings. I'm always a huge advocate for therapy for all ages and especially with grief I've got a great book that I like to recommend. It's called remembering someone special It's a grief journal for kids and so especially if it's someone that they knew and loved who has now died and gone to be with Jesus and
00:17:03
Speaker
The Grief Journal helps them process and walk through it and there's some interactive pieces. There's also this great book called Goodbye to Goodbyes and that mainly tells the story of when Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Oh yes. So it takes that Bible story and then kind of wraps it up in bow at the end and reminds the kids that one day there will be no more death.
00:17:25
Speaker
and no more goodbyes. That's a great book to read. There's also a wonderful book called Heaven is a Wonderful Place. And then there's another great one that's just in general, doesn't specifically deal with death, but it's called I Will Not Be Afraid. And I love to give this book out to kids, no matter what they're dealing with, because it talks about specific things that God will take away when we're in heaven.
00:17:49
Speaker
and that's a good one to deal with or to read with your kids no matter what they might be afraid of. So the grief journal is a wonderful thing. Goodbye to goodbyes and heaven is a wonderful place are just great resources to be reading to your kids even if they're not dealing with grief because it kind of preps them in a way. Yeah, I don't think we should shield them. Right. Oh, there you go. I don't. I think that it is
00:18:10
Speaker
as we're learning or it's a natural part of life. And I'm not saying we talk about it all the time. Oh, I don't know. Maybe you can. I just don't think that it's, we can't lie. Right. Right. That's what I think or not bring it up at all. So I think that's huge. Yeah. Yeah. And the I will not be afraid is a great one to read, even if your kids aren't dealing with that, because it just reminds them, God is with you. No matter what, through your questions, you don't have to be afraid.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. And again, going back to my friend's dad who passed in the wake and trying to explain that to the girls, I don't know that I did a great job, but I just tried. And I think that that's something parents should be encouraged about as well. Absolutely. Just try. Just try. All right. So we will have these resources linked on the show notes at normalgoesalongway.com. Thank you for your
00:19:07
Speaker
encouragement on this one.
Fostering Open Communication on Difficult Topics
00:19:10
Speaker
And now it is Laura Fleetwood's turn to provide her perspective. As a reminder, Hannah is covering the elementary age and how you approach some of these topics with your kiddos from that perspective. And Laura, you have the wonderful task of approaching these topics from the secondary age and mostly
00:19:32
Speaker
because you have two teenage daughters. So we are going to, as I said, start with the hardest one for me personally, which is death. It's like, let's just rip off that Band-Aid. And I had said this to Hannah, it might be harder for me when I visualize having teenagers talking to them about death than it is my littles.
00:19:55
Speaker
Maybe not. I don't know. It just seems that I would have to have more conversations, I guess more in-depth conversations with them when they're teenagers. Do you feel that way and then also maybe provide some of your general tips as far as how you talk to the secondary age and of course thinking of your girls when it comes to talking about death.
00:20:24
Speaker
Well, first of all, I think it's important to note that we set the stage for these kinds of conversations in the early years. So how you respond and react to your kids' questions when they're young is going to influence how comfortable they feel coming to you when they're in their teens. Remember that early adolescents and teenagers are starting to separate from parents. Like they're starting to develop their own sense of identity
00:20:54
Speaker
And so any additional conflict or apprehension that they may have about coming to you because you're going to overreact with a question or, you know, be anxious about it is going to be even more of a detriment. So when you're with your littles, it's really important to foster open communication and to have a non-anxious presence.
00:21:20
Speaker
That is so good to know. You've gotta start talking about this now. So when we take me, for example, this is good.
00:21:30
Speaker
Right, because if your little ones are coming to you with questions and you kind of freak out about their questions when they're little, they're putting a mental model in their head that, oh, because they want to please you and because they want to be good and because they don't want to cause conflict, oh, I can't come to mom with these kinds of questions. And that will only build upon itself when they get to the age
00:21:56
Speaker
where they're naturally separating from you anyway. So the way I think about it is when my kids come to me with a question, I want to have a blank reaction, right? I want to be as non-anxious and as neutral in my reaction as possible, even if in my head I'm freaking out because I don't know what to say. I want them to feel safe, right? And when we overreact,
00:22:26
Speaker
that's not safe to our littles. So I just want to lay that out there and also remember that you're playing the long game when it comes to parenting. Okay. So the goal isn't to develop to have perfect kids or perfect teenagers or perfect early adolescent kids. The goal is to foster a wholehearted adult. And so it's relieve some pressure when you think that way.
00:22:54
Speaker
from the moment, like I have to get this right. And it gives you a sense of this is a long-term journey and I'm going to mess up. I am not a perfect parent and I can trust that God is gonna fill in my gaps. That is so important and praying for that. Like literally I remember going to a conference when my girls were young and the mom was like, I pray every day.
00:23:21
Speaker
to be the best mom that my kids need and for God to step in when I'm not. Yes. Yes. So there has to be so much grace both for our kids when they come to us with hard questions and for ourselves in how
00:23:40
Speaker
we respond and it's also always okay and good to go to your kids and say, I am so sorry I overreacted when you asked me that question. I didn't mean to. It wasn't about the question. It was about me and to apologize. Like you can always go back. Yeah.
00:23:58
Speaker
you know and that just shows them that you're human and that it's okay for them to do the same thing right and i do that a lot now i mean and even with them being as little as they are i will go back to them and say i am sorry i got frustrated with you and let me tell you why.
00:24:19
Speaker
and how can we work on it together? And let me just say this, when I hear people say stuff like that, I'm like, oh my gosh, you're such a great parent and this and that, you know, it is not me. I'm just providing you with tips that I have learned from other people. Right. Does that mean that I am a perfect parent? Absolutely not, because I'm sure there were a million more times I apologize throughout the day. So just take
00:24:47
Speaker
little steps. Right. And I'm reminding myself of that as well. Little steps, apologize frequently and play the long game. Yeah. Those are kind of
00:24:55
Speaker
the overarching principles I would say that I have for these upcoming conversations.
Talking About Death with Teenagers
00:25:00
Speaker
Okay. So let's dive into death. You know, when I talked to Hannah, I really set it up with her that, I mean, Laura, you and I, you know this from one of the very first episodes that we recorded that death is a very hard topic for me and I'm getting better talking about it. But then Charlie, my youngest said to me, and this is,
00:25:25
Speaker
what I told Hannah, she said, are you going to die? And that's when I started thinking about how do we have these conversations? How do you take your faith and have these conversations? So not only with the littles, but now the secondary kiddos. How does that happen? And what do you say and what do you not say? Yeah.
00:25:51
Speaker
I think the most important thing is to take advantage of teachable moments. When the topic of death comes up naturally, so when a family member dies or a pet dies or you see a news story about somebody passing away, those are great opportunities to just have an open
00:26:14
Speaker
conversation about it. And with these early adolescents and teenagers, they now understand the concept of death, right? You don't have to try to explain to them what that means. By now, they have a concept of heaven, probably. They have a concept of hell. They've been thinking about death on their own. And so I think one of the most effective things is to normalize it, right? We're all going to die.
00:26:43
Speaker
and to talk about what you want to happen when you die.
00:26:49
Speaker
Now, that can seem a little scary, right? Because I can see you already. You're like, I don't even want to think about when I die, let alone talk about it with my kids. But remember, we're talking about teenagers now. Right? And this is what I said to Hannah, too, that I have been talking about it a little bit more because as the advanced, eternal age parent, you know, Brian and I, we've had to do our will and trust. We didn't have to. We should have. But we did it.
00:27:16
Speaker
So important. And one of those things between he and I is what do we want for each other? What do we want to celebrate and what to have that in writing? Because if right now, if we passed a five and a three year old have no clue, but let's think about teenage girls, teenage boys, they do know. Well, they they are wondering if something happens to mom and dad.
00:27:43
Speaker
what will my life look like? Who will I live with? So if you haven't talked to your kids about who you've put as their guardian, let them know. Like that is a comforting thing to know is that my kids know if something happens to Justin and I before they're 18, that they will go live with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mitch, you know, people that they love and they trust.
00:28:07
Speaker
We have told them specifically that we want to be cremated. So we've had that conversation between cremation and burial. They know where I want my ashes spread at Camp Arcadia, which is my favorite place on earth. And I told them, I want that to be the place that you go because we all love it so much. It is such a rich part of our family's history. When you go there,
00:28:34
Speaker
you, I will be with you. So I want them to already start seeing the comfort of that. Yes. That my favorite place on earth and their favorite place on earth, there I will be sprinkled in the water. And so when they look on that lake, mom is there.
00:28:51
Speaker
So by having these conversations, you're helping them paint a picture that, number one, you've thought about it. So important. Yes. Which means you have to think about it before you have the conversation. Or if you haven't, to be honest and say, I haven't thought about that, but I'm going to, because it's important that you know. As they get older, you can talk about,
00:29:17
Speaker
things like the beneficiary when we got had our wills made. We talked about when they would get money, when the charities that we'll be donating to. I think you don't want them to hear about all that.
00:29:33
Speaker
as they're experiencing that initial grief, like there would be so much going on that to process all of that on top of it. I think teenagers are able to understand like, okay, whether mom dies when I'm 17 or 50, you know, this is what she wants, this is what dad wants. So we, I suggest just having those conversations, talking about what your parents did,
00:30:03
Speaker
And maybe what was good about that or bad about that, you know, thinking through your funeral. Like one of the coolest things is to think about what music you want at your funeral. Yes. And that is a great conversation to have with your kids. Hey, these are the songs that are really meaningful to me right now. And I think I would want these at my funeral. What are some songs that you think you'd want at yours?
00:30:27
Speaker
You know, so because music is such like an emotionally connecting game, that that's kind of an easy way. So what we're trying to do is normalize it because we're all going to die. Yeah. We don't want to hear it, but yes. It's going to happen. And kids at this age realize that. And the other thing that's important is to recognize that they are experiencing the death of their peers more frequently than we did.
00:30:56
Speaker
Suicide is the number two cause of death for youth. Yeah. And I know even in my girl's high school career, there's been three or four situations, either suicide or automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, where they're experiencing the loss of another young person. So that is also something, one of those teachable moments when
00:31:24
Speaker
It's important to help them understand that nobody processes grief the same way. It's a different journey for everyone. You know, there are conceptually, there are stages of grief that you go through, you know, anger, denial, sadness, finally acceptance, but even like how the order that those happen or how they look in people's lives is all different.
00:31:52
Speaker
And it's important to reassure them that however you deal with your grief, you have to deal with it. Yeah. You know? And so your friend who just wants to pretend it never happened is dealing with it in a different way than you if you're sad all the time. And that's OK. And so that's something to start talking with them about is that, yes, we have to deal with it. We need to talk to people about it. We need to engage a counselor if needed.
00:32:22
Speaker
but it's gonna look different for different people. As we wrap up the death talk, anything else that you would like to mention that would be helpful for parents, relatives, friends of secondary age kiddos? I think it's also helpful to give them a sense of their ancestors who have passed on to know where extended family is buried
00:32:49
Speaker
to visit cemeteries and tombstones, that is a healthy way for them to see how you have dealt
00:33:01
Speaker
with the grief of loved ones and that you keep their memory alive. Because I think one of our greatest fears is that when we're gone, they're gonna forget us. Or they are worried that if they pass away that we would
Spiritual Beliefs and Family Traditions
00:33:16
Speaker
forget them. And so reminding them that no, we keep our loved ones in our mind all the time and we honor them and we go visit them if they're buried. And also having been the faith
00:33:29
Speaker
the faith spiritual conversation too that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Our true life is not here on this side of heaven. It's in heaven, right? So this is all like just the first page of the first chapter of our eternal life. And so when we have Christ and we follow Him and we believe in Him, our death is not the end. It's the beginning of forever.
00:33:59
Speaker
And that is the most comforting thing to remember, that while it's okay to miss the people that have gone, they are not missing us. In a blink of their eye, we will be with them and it will be wonderful. So in the meantime, we live our life here.
00:34:19
Speaker
but we hold our future and our promise in heaven. So our next big topic that we're going to tackle is technology. So technology for elementary, technology for secondary, and how do you approach it with a faith-filled lens? So that's going to be our next episode.
00:34:40
Speaker
When we set up this series of episodes you talked about, we don't really want to over-spiritualize things, right? It's not like Jesus made a commandment about how much screen time your three-year-old is supposed to have. Right, going back to cheesy or force. Exactly. However, I do think that when we think about technology, we come into some value conversations.
00:35:02
Speaker
We can't shelter them from technology because they need to know how to use it. And we want them to learn how to use it in a healthy way.