Life & Loss Through the Eyes Of An 8-Year-Old

Today my little girl lost her pet lizard. She picked Lizzey out at the pet store and has taken care of her for the past 4 years. The death of a pet sets the stage for some of the toughest life lessons to learn when we’re young, and it grieves my heart to watch her have to learn such rough lessons today.

These are the times we begin to become aware of the hard reality that life isn’t always fair, dreams and hearts can both be broken, losing something hurts… bad, and nothing is ever promised.

But as she buried her little buddy, I realized that I was actually learning some lessons from HER. I watched her wipe away her tears, stand up tall, and place that tiny box in the ground with compassion and grace. She knew the potential cost of loss and loved anyway, she took an unfair situation and turned it into an opportunity to grow stronger in character and fortitude, she took a chance on something that required effort and responsibility and saw it all the way through even when it didn’t end the way she had hoped, and she allowed herself to feel raw emotion and cried genuine tears as she said goodbye to a sweet friend she had previously said hello to every day.

I know this situation seems incredibly trivial in comparison to losses that are so much heavier, but I also wanted to shine some light on a truth I think we can all be uplifted by right now. While my heart is broken for my sweet girl, I had the pleasure and encouragement of witnessing life through the beauty, simplicity, sincerity, tenacity, honesty, transparency, and resiliency of a child. May we all make an effort to embrace this perspective, it will bring a soothing salve to our souls.

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 18:4 (ESV)