An Angel - the Death of a Baby

Last week, I went to a funeral for my nephew's baby.  She was three days old.  Her tiny casket was open and lying inside was the most perfect, tiny baby I have ever seen.  Before she was born, her parents knew there was a problem with her heart which the doctors could not fix. These same doctors told her parents that they would have maybe two to four weeks with their baby.  I've thought a lot about the agony this must have caused this young couple.

Knowing the fate that awaited his unborn niece, another of my nephews used his talents to lovingly make a tiny casket.  This was such a selfless act of brotherly love. Just thinking about his kindness brings tears to my eyes. 

Today, I wanted to share a few thoughts and my cherished belief.  I believe each of us comes to earth to receive a body and to be tried and tested to see how we will live our lives. When a baby comes to earth and only lives a short time, that baby is perfect already. Because that baby is already an angel he or she doesn't need to be tested.  My church teaches that if a child dies before the age of accountability - which is eight years old, then they automatically go back to live with Heavenly Father and receive the highest glory he has to give to them.  That little baby came to earth to receive her body and that is what happened to this great-niece of mine.  She was already so perfect, she did not need to be tried or tested.

All children start out their mortal probation in purity and innocence because of the atonement. Our revelations also say, “The Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world.” (Moses 6:54.) - Bruce R. McConkie

Joseph Smith’s Vision of the Celestial Kingdom contains this statement: “And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.” (Doctrine Covenants 137:10)

We may rest assured that all things are controlled and governed by Him whose spirit children we are. He knows the end from the beginning, and he provides for each of us the testings and trials which he knows we need. President Joseph Fielding Smith once told me that we must assume that the Lord knows and arranges beforehand who shall be taken in infancy and who shall remain on earth to undergo whatever tests are needed in their cases. This accords with Joseph Smith’s statement: “The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth.” (Teachings, pp. 196–97.) It is implicit in the whole scheme of things that those of us who have arrived at the years of accountability need the tests and trials to which we are subject and that our problem is to overcome the world and attain that spotless and pure state which little children already possess.

“And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.

“But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!”   -  ELDER SHAYNE M. BOWEN

At the end of the graveside service, pink balloons were released.  Notice how one heart is pulling the other heart balloon up into heaven.  This made me think, "Will the thought of a cherished loved one who has passed onto the next life help us to be better, to act better, to lift others and be more Christ like?  

Sending love to all of those that go through this situation.  Especially sending love and support to my older brother and his family, especially my nephew and his wife.  xoxo