Sam's Enlightening Thoughts

Last night, Sam and I were closed up in my room, cutting and gluing to make Art Trading Cards and he was talking. I love doing things like this with my children because it's when we really talk...when I get to hear what's deep in their hearts.

Sam was talking about a friend of his whose parents both died. He said he doesn't know how they live. I asked, "What is the other option?" He said, "That's true." I said, "Do you think those who have passed on want those who are left on earth to live a sad life...or do you think they want them to find as much Joy as possible."

He knew the answer.

And then as we were working more, he said, "I know how they are so happy!"

He went on, "They've already lost the thing that we are so afraid of losing. They have nothing else to lose. The big thing that we worry about has happened to them, so they have nothing to fear."

Wow.

Growing can be painful at times...I'm so thankful that my children are able to learn and grow in the safety of their own minds and hearts, without accepting what is just handed to them as being Fact, as being *This is the way it is*. My kids think, explore, examine, dissect, and without fear, they look at those things that make other people so uncomfortable and they turn them and turn them and turn them until they fit comfortably within the big puzzle of Who They Are and Who They Want to Be.

Sam's at an age where he has a lot of fears. And the biggest one is losing his parents. But in a joyful moment last night, with his mother at his side, he examined that fear and came up with an amazing perspective that enlightened my life, too.