Can We Go to Heaven?

 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Matthew 6:19-21

Can we go to heaven? That was the question Coop's little 3 year-old mouth uttered Sunday night when we were saying his prayers. 

His prayers are always so sweet, and I usually start by saying, "What do we want to thank God for today?"  Most of the time, I get the typical answers:  food, his monster trucks, mom and dad and Cooper (he always includes himself which I think is precious), Nana & Papa, B & D (his grandparents), Jack and G (his great-grandparents), and so on, covering his daycare teachers and all of his friends in his class.

Last night, however, he started with Jesus. He wanted to thank God for Jesus. When I asked what else, he said, "Heaven."  When he said that, I felt compelled to stop there for a moment.  Coop and I don't talk about Cain daily, but when the topics of siblings or heaven come up, I usually feel it is the perfect time to remind him that he has a brother who is already in heaven waiting on us.  So I asked Coop, "Who is in heaven?"  He replied, "Cain is."  That made me smile. Yes, Cain is in heaven, and I am always happy when Coop remembers that. But then, he said something that made my heart happy and sad at the same time. "Can we go there?"  I explained to Coop that heaven isn't someplace that we can go for the day, for a short visit.  If we know Jesus, then we can go to heaven when we die.

Now if you have children, you know how hard it is to explain God, Jesus and heaven to a 3 year-old. When you believe based on faith, the facts present in the scientific realm may be little or non-existent.  You believe because you have faith in God, because you feel his presence within your life. Because you understand that still, small voice that beckons to you to reach out to Him, to cast all of your cares on Him. It's hard enough to explain that to other adults, let alone a small child.

Anyway, I went on to tell him that his great-granny is in heaven too (my maternal grandmother, Ellen). He has other great grandparents there, but she is the only one who has passed away since he was born. He asked me about her house. He wanted to know if she was going to come back to live in it. Again, I told him that she is in heaven, and that once we get to heaven, we don't get to come back.  He told me that she has a house in heaven. I smiled. "Yes, she does have a house in heaven," I reiterated. "Cain has a house," he said.  I smiled even bigger. "Yes, he does," I said.   "Jesus has a lot of houses," he went on to explain to me.

And then came the question again. "Can we go there?"  I told him again that we couldn't. That we could one day, but not today.  Then in the most pitiful little voice, he said, "Peas, (please) momma? I want to go. Peas (please) can we go?" In his little mind, he assumed if he begged enough I would cave in like I do when I say, "Hey, no more chocolate for you, Mister." He just didn't understand that it wasn't within my capability to take us there, no matter how much I wanted to do so. By the time his prayers had ended, he had given up on me saying I would take him. In fact, he drifted off to sleep rather quickly after that.  And I wondered if he dreamed of heaven that night, of Jesus, his great-granny and his brother, Cain.

I like to think he did.