I had an opportunity to attend a NBI Seminar on Trust Administration today. The primary reason for my attendance was to speak for about an hour on the issue of ethics in a trust practice. I decided to stay for a few extra hours to see if I could learn something from the other speakers.
The highlight of my day is that I had lunch with my girls at my wife's office. My wife had a client meeting today, so she needed me to sub for her for an hour or so. Lunch was wild as always and I probably let the girls eat more sweets than actual lunch food (such is the prerogative of a Dad).
Grace and I had a most interesting conversation when she asked me if she could eat a lollipop that my wife had in her office. I told her "no" and her response was "ok, I will wait until you died [sic] and then I will decide if I will eat it." She added further that "when you died I will be old, so I will not need you to take care of me." At that point I must admit I had my feelings a little hurt. I asked her if she would miss me and she responded, "no, I'll see you in heaven one day."
Once I overcame my surprise about the nature of our conversation, I began to reflect on the fact that children can speak about death with incredible ease, whereas we as adults become instantly uncomfortable with any mention of the subject. Death is just a part of life and for Christians we see it as the beginning of our new and better life. Perhaps I should accept this as a lesson from my 'wise' 4 year old.
