The Shack is a challenging story because it goes where no filmmaker—or novelist for that matter—has gone before: into the imagined or visualized theological realm of the Holy Trinity engaging with human beings.

The girls wobble unsteadily on new heels; the boys in their suits look awkward as colts. The teenagers’ interests lean toward the gifts after Confirmation, especially those intriguing white envelopes that might contain cash.

So what’s a parent to do? We’re torn between wanting our children to appreciate the full richness of the sacrament and knowing that it may take years for the meaning to unfold.

Three pieces of advice might help us live with this dilemma.

Think Long-range

The pope’s 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’” (“On Care for Our Common Home”), reflects on our relationship to each other and the Earth. Rarely has an encyclical been this widely anticipated, or this widely discussed, in the worldwide Catholic community and far beyond it.