"The only difference between the old and young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world. Notwithstanding all this glory, we for a moment lose sight of it, and mourn the loss, but we do not mourn as those without hope."
~Joseph Smith
(History of the Church, 4:553–54; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on Mar. 20, 1842, in Nauvoo, Illinois; reported by Wilford Woodruff.)
My favorite part of this quote is the end. Yes, of course we will mourn -- we are temporarily separated from our beautiful child; this is not what we had planned; all our expectations for the future (at least in this life) are gone in an instant. And yet, amidst our grief and pain, there is hope. Hope in the atonement that guarantees our innocent children a place in the celestial kingdom. Hope in the resurrection. Hope in eternal families. No, we do not mourn as those without hope, because we know that there is more than the time we spend here on earth. It is okay to be sad and to miss our children, but we will be reunited with them. And for now, they are basking in eternal light and glory and are freed from the pains and sorrows of this world.
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