Tonight the kids and I made snowflakes (also from the latest Family Fun magazine). Ron is out of town, so he didn't have to participate. The snowflakes in the magazine were white, but the kids wanted to make their snowflakes colorful. Since I didn't have enough white beads anyway, it worked out great. I don't know that they really look like snowflakes, but they are pretty and sparkle nicely. It was very easy 
and was a nice activity to fill a cold, dark, lonely evening.
While I was putting Tyler to bed tonight, we had an interesting conversation about Heaven and God. This is kind of personal, but I think it's worthy of sharing.
We got on the topic of Heaven after talking about Casey (our dog), who will probably be gone by this time next month. Tyler told me I shouldn't be sad because I would see her again in Heaven. Then his eyes suddenly teared up and his chin started to quiver and he said, "I know you said there wouldn't be any tears in Heaven, but if I die before Christmas, I just know I'm going to cry." It sounds so simple, but I know how he feels. Although Heaven will be a wonderful place, I don't want to miss all the good things in my life here, right now. It's hard to think of Heaven as being better than watching your children grow up, or holding your grandchildren, or growing old with your spouse, or, to a 7 year old, opening gifts on Christmas morning. I tried to explain to him that, first, he's probably not going to die before Christmas, and second, when he gets to Heaven, it will be filled with so many good things that it will seem like Christmas all the time.
Then he asked a ton of questions:
Will we just pop up there when we die?
Will just our heads go up and our bodies will float up later?
Are there houses?
You mean we'll drive our cars on gold streets?
Will we go potty?
Will we eat?
Will there be a Chipotle?!
Will God be invisible?
I tried my best to explain Heaven to him in a way I thought he would understand. I explained that Heaven would be full of good and wonderful things, lots of them, and I believe that will include food because it can be good and wonderful. I explained to him that our souls will go to Heaven before our actual bodies do, but our bodies will make it eventually. And no, a soul is not something that shows up on an xray. I explained that God will not be invisible and we will get to see Him and talk to Him and even touch Him. And I explained to him that Heaven will be so wonderful because God and all of us will be there but all of the things that cause us to do bad things or make bad choices will be gone. There won't be any sin in Heaven, so we won't hurt each other's feelings or be mean to each other or yell at each other. It will be perfect in a way we just can't fully understand yet.
And here's the good part - I also asked him if he knew the way to get to Heaven. And he did: "to believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive your sins". He said he had done that, "...but only 3 times. How many times do I have to ask?" I know the Biblical answer to that, but there are times when I feel like I just haven't asked enough because I still can't seem to get it right. I told him that if he meant it when he asked Jesus, he only had to ask once to be forgiven. I explained that we should try not to sin, but God knows and understands our hearts better than we do. We should say we're sorry to God when we know we've made a mistake, and He promises He will keep forgiving us, as many times as we need it. I also explained that I still need to ask for forgiveness because, try as I might, I still make a ton of mistakes ("like losing my temper with you last night and getting angry").
That evolved into a conversation about angels, which was pretty good, too. I know my son is mischievous, picks on his sister, doesn't always listen to his parents, jumps on his Uncle Ron, and struggles with how to be a friend, but he is a 7 year old work in progress who loves Jesus. I'd say he's on the right path.
We got on the topic of Heaven after talking about Casey (our dog), who will probably be gone by this time next month. Tyler told me I shouldn't be sad because I would see her again in Heaven. Then his eyes suddenly teared up and his chin started to quiver and he said, "I know you said there wouldn't be any tears in Heaven, but if I die before Christmas, I just know I'm going to cry." It sounds so simple, but I know how he feels. Although Heaven will be a wonderful place, I don't want to miss all the good things in my life here, right now. It's hard to think of Heaven as being better than watching your children grow up, or holding your grandchildren, or growing old with your spouse, or, to a 7 year old, opening gifts on Christmas morning. I tried to explain to him that, first, he's probably not going to die before Christmas, and second, when he gets to Heaven, it will be filled with so many good things that it will seem like Christmas all the time.
Then he asked a ton of questions:
Will we just pop up there when we die?
Will just our heads go up and our bodies will float up later?
Are there houses?
You mean we'll drive our cars on gold streets?
Will we go potty?
Will we eat?
Will there be a Chipotle?!
Will God be invisible?
I tried my best to explain Heaven to him in a way I thought he would understand. I explained that Heaven would be full of good and wonderful things, lots of them, and I believe that will include food because it can be good and wonderful. I explained to him that our souls will go to Heaven before our actual bodies do, but our bodies will make it eventually. And no, a soul is not something that shows up on an xray. I explained that God will not be invisible and we will get to see Him and talk to Him and even touch Him. And I explained to him that Heaven will be so wonderful because God and all of us will be there but all of the things that cause us to do bad things or make bad choices will be gone. There won't be any sin in Heaven, so we won't hurt each other's feelings or be mean to each other or yell at each other. It will be perfect in a way we just can't fully understand yet.
And here's the good part - I also asked him if he knew the way to get to Heaven. And he did: "to believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive your sins". He said he had done that, "...but only 3 times. How many times do I have to ask?" I know the Biblical answer to that, but there are times when I feel like I just haven't asked enough because I still can't seem to get it right. I told him that if he meant it when he asked Jesus, he only had to ask once to be forgiven. I explained that we should try not to sin, but God knows and understands our hearts better than we do. We should say we're sorry to God when we know we've made a mistake, and He promises He will keep forgiving us, as many times as we need it. I also explained that I still need to ask for forgiveness because, try as I might, I still make a ton of mistakes ("like losing my temper with you last night and getting angry").
That evolved into a conversation about angels, which was pretty good, too. I know my son is mischievous, picks on his sister, doesn't always listen to his parents, jumps on his Uncle Ron, and struggles with how to be a friend, but he is a 7 year old work in progress who loves Jesus. I'd say he's on the right path.
1 comment:
Amen!
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