We were listening to the Eagles in the car when five-year-old Gracie asked, ‘Mummy, can love really keep us alive?’ Quickly my mind went into overload. How could I best answer that one? If I agreed with the Eagles, how would I ever explain when someone she loves dies. On the other hand, how could I possibly disagree with a statement that for me held much truth.
‘Everyone needs to be loved, and to love someone else.’ I tried to give her some truth while avoiding the real question.
‘Yes, but can love keep us alive?’ She insisted on an answer to her question and was not going to accept anything less.
‘Well, yes, I think it can help to keep us alive, but eventually we all have to die.’ Oh dear, too late, I knew what the next question was going to be.
‘But why, Mummy? Why do we have to die?’
You would think that after twenty-six years of parenting, I would be well-rehearsed in answering those more difficult questions. Hadn’t my years of life experience better prepared me to answer those deeper questions?
Young Gracie is a constant reminder to me of how vulnerable our children are to every little detail they see and hear. Their young minds are like sponges, absorbing life’s moments, then processing the raw data into beliefs they will carry into their future.
I told Gracie, ‘We die because our bodies get old and stop working. But our spirit never dies. It lives forever.’ It was the best I could come up with under pressure. I hoped it would suffice, at least for now.
She sat pensively for a few moments then asked, ‘Mummy, what’s our spirit?’
Oh dear…
