Sarah & Heaven

Sarah is really intrigued by God and heaven right now, and she asks lots of questions. She has her own personal trilogy: God & Jesus & heaven........and when she mentions one, she usually says all 3. My hubby's grandma (granny) passed away the end of October, and that has prompted lots of conversation about heaven. Sarah understands that Granny's heart stopped working, and she died and went to heaven. She gets it that it's the angel's job to take you there and make sure you get to the right place. She understands that God decides when it's time for you to go, and that once you're there, you can't come back. (She briefly had the misconception that you can "visit" heaven. I had to clear that up for her.) We talked about how she'll get to see Granny again when she gets to heaven, provided she's a good girl, and she believes in God and Jesus. She asked about sleeping in heaven. I explained that God never sleeps, and that I didn't think we would either once we got there. She said, "But mama, what if I'm tired and need to take a nap?" I tried to explain that I didn't think we'd ever get tired in heaven, so we wouldn't need to sleep. Her compromise? "Well, I'll just take a nap on the angel's wings while he's taking me to heaven." What will she come up with next?

She asks a lot about my brother (BJ), my Dad, and other people that passed away before she was born. Sometimes I tell her things and she has to "stew" on it for a while, and then ask more questions later. We often talk about how she'll get to meet family she never knew when she gets to heaven. So tonight she says, "But mama, I don't know what they look like." I told her I had pictures of some of them, but she still had concerns about the rest. I assured her that either there would be someone there she knew who could introduce them, or she'd just somehow know it was them. She wants to know what God looks like and asks if I have a picture of him...........sorry, honey.........can't help you on that one. She asked about BJ one day while drawing a picture, and I told her that he really liked to draw, too, and that he was really good at it..........much better than mama (I have ZERO talent when it comes to art.........can't draw a straight line without a ruler, people.) Later, she drew a picture and informed me that it was for her "Uncle Billy Joe" and that she was gonna take it to him when she went to heaven. She said she'd put it away in her room so it wouldn't get messed up until then. It was so sweet that I didn't dare tell her she can't take it with her........which reminds me of something.

I'm an avid list maker. I mean I am REALLY serious about my lists. You know how they say you can't "take it with you" when you die? Well, a close friend (Hope from the Edge) and I have a running joke about that. I joke about how I have this list of questions that I'm making of things I want to ask God about when I get to heaven. When I commented that it was too bad that I wouldn't be able to take my list with me, Hope joked that if there was anybody who could figure out how to get anything past those pearly gates, it would be me, with my list (seeing as I'm such a serious, determined, resourceful list maker and all.) LOL!

Now more on Sarah and heaven. We've been reading the story of David and Goliath, and she has decided that she wants to meet David when she gets to heaven so she can talk to him. She asked about Goliath, but I told her I didn't think he'd be there. "Why not?" she asks. "Because Goliath was a bad man who wanted to hurt people, and I think he probably went to the BAD place (her name for hell.) That took care of that, because I clarified this earlier. She thought she could just go down to the BAD place and straighten the old bad devil out so he could go to heaven too. I explained that he had his chance already, and that he decided he just wanted to stay bad and be ugly. Well, that just totally wrecked her plan.

Sarah likes to help me clean, and she was playing around with the broom. She said, "Mama, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna be a good helper and help God clean." I explained that this was very sweet of her to want to help, but that I thought heaven would be quite spotless and that we would never have to clean. Her response? "Well, I guess I don't need to take my broom then." (snicker)