Renee Andrews's Blog - Posts Tagged "how-to-tame-your-dragon"
Death and Heaven...through the eyes of my grandsons
“The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” ~ Revelation 21:22-23
I’m going to assume you’ve seen the children’s movies that have come out the last few years; if not, you may want to skip over this devotion to avoid spoilers.
Two years ago, I took Alanus and Jerry to see Croods. This was my first time to take the boys to a movie, because they’d only been living with my son and daughter-in-law for a few months, since their birth mother passed away. The movie barely started when my cell rang. Because their birth father was dying of cancer, I answered in the theater, and I received the message that he wasn’t doing well, and my son and daughter-in-law were on their way to the theater to pick up the boys and take them to see their dad for what they believed would be the last time.
Alanus and Jerry’s father passed away a week before Father’s Day. As you have learned from my earlier devotions, Rene and Ariel adopted our precious grandboys after their birth parents passed on.
Since that time, I’ve taken the boys to many animated movies, and I’ve noticed an unsettling trend: the parents die. Not always, but often. I’ve learned that this wasn’t the case in Croods, but I never saw the remainder of the movie. However, examples of movies we’ve seen: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (the father); Frozen (both parents); The Lion King (the father); Finding Nemo (the mother). But I’ve never been so affected by a parent’s death in a movie as I am when I’m sitting beside Alanus and Jerry, because they’ve experienced it. I cry, not because of the characters, but because of these adorable boys. But do you know what they did when the parents died on Frozen and when the daddy died on How to Train Your Dragon 2? They asked me, “Did they go to Heaven, KK?” (I’m KK, by the way, and I adore it every time they say it.)
There is such beauty in their innocent question. They do not see death with fear, but with life, eternal life. They know their “first mommy” and “first daddy,” as they call them, are in Heaven and are happy. They know that they will go to Heaven and see them again someday. They also know that their new mommy and daddy, as well as Pops and KK, and a ton of other relatives love them dearly. Alanus and Jerry see death as a path to the city described by John in the verse above. I praise God for that, and I ask Him to let me remember that the sadness is for those here; there is no sadness, no darkness, no sickness there. How beautiful Heaven must be!
This Week: Bring out pictures of loved ones who have passed on. Don’t look at them with sadness, but with the knowledge that they are in that amazingly stunning place, and then say aloud, “How beautiful Heaven must be!”Mondays with Jesus 2015
I’m going to assume you’ve seen the children’s movies that have come out the last few years; if not, you may want to skip over this devotion to avoid spoilers.
Two years ago, I took Alanus and Jerry to see Croods. This was my first time to take the boys to a movie, because they’d only been living with my son and daughter-in-law for a few months, since their birth mother passed away. The movie barely started when my cell rang. Because their birth father was dying of cancer, I answered in the theater, and I received the message that he wasn’t doing well, and my son and daughter-in-law were on their way to the theater to pick up the boys and take them to see their dad for what they believed would be the last time.
Alanus and Jerry’s father passed away a week before Father’s Day. As you have learned from my earlier devotions, Rene and Ariel adopted our precious grandboys after their birth parents passed on.
Since that time, I’ve taken the boys to many animated movies, and I’ve noticed an unsettling trend: the parents die. Not always, but often. I’ve learned that this wasn’t the case in Croods, but I never saw the remainder of the movie. However, examples of movies we’ve seen: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (the father); Frozen (both parents); The Lion King (the father); Finding Nemo (the mother). But I’ve never been so affected by a parent’s death in a movie as I am when I’m sitting beside Alanus and Jerry, because they’ve experienced it. I cry, not because of the characters, but because of these adorable boys. But do you know what they did when the parents died on Frozen and when the daddy died on How to Train Your Dragon 2? They asked me, “Did they go to Heaven, KK?” (I’m KK, by the way, and I adore it every time they say it.)
There is such beauty in their innocent question. They do not see death with fear, but with life, eternal life. They know their “first mommy” and “first daddy,” as they call them, are in Heaven and are happy. They know that they will go to Heaven and see them again someday. They also know that their new mommy and daddy, as well as Pops and KK, and a ton of other relatives love them dearly. Alanus and Jerry see death as a path to the city described by John in the verse above. I praise God for that, and I ask Him to let me remember that the sadness is for those here; there is no sadness, no darkness, no sickness there. How beautiful Heaven must be!
This Week: Bring out pictures of loved ones who have passed on. Don’t look at them with sadness, but with the knowledge that they are in that amazingly stunning place, and then say aloud, “How beautiful Heaven must be!”Mondays with Jesus 2015
