There will be no Headcolds in Heaven

I have a rotten head cold. Bleh, bleh and again bleh. BUT, I plan to nobly lay that aside and share with you a conversation and revelation I had recently...

Sofi and I got to talking about being dead during lunch the other day (don't ask-- if you don't have a six-year-old girl, there's just no way I can describe to you how we get from Peanut Butter Jelly sandwiches to death in a fifteen minute lunch time), and I said how cool it would be to be in heaven. Yes, she agreed, she would get to watch tv ALL DAY. Well, said I (choking down my horror and thoughts of guilt about how I have failed as a mother), perhaps, but I thought there would be so much more awesome stuff to do! Like ride elephants and pet the lions and swim with dolphins and fly with the eagles. And then she got all excited about it and we spent the next ten mintues talking about all the cool stuff there will be to do, see and eat (she really loves pomegranates, so I'm hoping the Lord won't mind hooking us up with some, I practically promised them to her...). I did my duty and steered her gently towards the idea that being in the presence of the Lord will be the greatest joy, but she's six. Honestly, dolphins hold a lot more appeal at this point. But we're getting there.

I imagine she's largely forgotten about the conversation by this time, but it's been hovering around in the back of my mind for days now. Especially since she's completely obsessed currently with the final book in the Chonicles of Narnia-- The Last Battle. It's the one that is kind of the Book of Revelations of the series and talks about the ending of Narnia and all the characters (dying and) going to Aslan's Country (Heaven). So I'm getting bombarded with this on an hourly basis the last week. I think we've listened to the entire book on tape about four times now. Plus, Jeremiah is reading it to her a chapter at a time every night.

It's been good for me to contemplate this subject. I am far too ready to get caught up in "the things of this world". Frustration, irritations, hurts, busy-ness, ambition, disatisfaction (mumble, mumble-politics!-mumble)-- all those things that I carry around and make myself tired and weary with. But a good, long contemplation of the following excerpts have really lightened my load lately.

Lord Digory: "Listen, Peter. When Aslan said you could never go back to Narnia, he meant the Narnia you were thinking of. But that was not the real Narnia. that had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or copy of the real Narnia which has always been here and always will be here: just as our own world, england and all, is only a shadow or copy of something in Aslan's real world. You need not mourn over Narnia, Lucy. All of the old Narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures, have been drawn intot he real Narnia through the Door. And of course it is different; as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as waking life is from a dream."


The Unicorn, Jewel: "I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Come further up, come further in!"


Aslan: "The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the MORNING"

Praise God! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.