Death and Bedtime

"We are but older children, dear,
Who fret to find our bedtime near."
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, Prologue

The poem that this quote is from compares a child's dreading of bedtime with an older person's fear of death. The imagery of this was very powerful for me.

We have a night-time ritual which is probably similar to most people's. We try to get our kids to go to bed and they actively try to avoid going to bed. I did the same thing to my parents when I was a kid.

As a parent, I know that my kids will be better off if they go to bed. We have bedtimes for a reason. They will get the amount of sleep they need, they will be able to awaken refreshed in the morning, etc. I think that if they would just listen to us as their parents they will be better off.

I then contrasted this with how much we (in general) fear death. And we mourn the loss of those who pass. This is natural, and I do not mean to diminish the sorrow that people feel when they are separated from loved ones. However, when I heard the words of this poem, I wondered if Heavenly Father views our passing from mortality in a similar way as we do to putting a child to bed.

He knows what is best for us, and He knows when it is our "bedtime." With an eye of faith, I think that perspective can help us to fear death less, and to be able to better accept the loss of a loved one. We can, with faith, accept the loving, guiding hand of our Father in Heaven in our lives. That acceptance can bring us peace.

Source: Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature's Most Fantastic Works