A story on the theme of Psalm 90

Theme: Death is a "normal" part of life and the more we can maintain a healthy perspective on this, the more able we are to see the fullness of God.

from Eugene Peterson:  "We live in a society characterized by the denial of death.  This is unusual.  Most people who have lived on this earth have given a great deal of attention to death.  Preparing for a good death has been, in every century, an accepted goal in life."

Change the names and genders and parental configurations as works best for your context.

It had been almost a year since Tim’s grandma had died and he still missed her very much. He had loved going to his grandma’s house. She had special toys for him to play with. Sometimes they did cooking projects together. He made the most delicious rolls when he worked with his grandma. They were sweet and had raisins inside and a little frosting on the outside.

He loved to cuddle with her and read his favorite books. She could even read books in Spanish and he learned how to count in Spanish from one of the books. He missed doing that.

His grandma had gotten very sick and she told him that she wasn’t going to get better from this sickness and before too long she would go to heaven to live with Jesus. She even asked Tim to draw a picture of what he thought heaven would look like. She said that she’d like to know what heaven might be like and what she could look forward to, even though she would be very sad to miss him.

When he felt saddest, he went to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer and took out a big envelope. Inside the envelope was the picture of heaven that he had drawn for his grandma. There was also a picture of him and his grandma cuddling up with a favorite book. Best of all, there was a letter from his grandma that she had written before she died. When he felt sad, it sometimes helped to read that letter. She wrote down some of the stories of what they did together; some of the trips they took to her favorite places and she wrote how much she loved him.

He wondered what it was like for his grandma in heaven. He wondered what she was doing right then. He wondered who she was with. When he wondered about his grandma, he didn’t feel so sad.