Life After Death

Life

after death was never a secret. It wasn't an unknown place to be feared. The idea of the afterlife was always the same in my family.

Going to Sunday church as a child, I'd hear stories on the wonderful things that happened in heaven. It was a place where there were no bickering parents or lonely tea parties, and I wanted to find myself there one day.

Kneeling on the pews, I would close my eyes and imagine grand golden gates, miles high and sitting on top of the clouds, sealing the entrance. I wondered how it was humanly possible for a piece of metal to be so illuminating, but then again, I guess it wasn't.

We stood in a line and would have to wait to be signed in, because even eternal peace had its inconveniences. The line would go fairly quickly and there I'd be, my hands clammy and fingers drumming on my legs. I would walk towards the entry with a fake confidence in my step, the kind of attitude you'd have when you know that you shouldn't be anxious to begin with. It seemed that with every step I’d take, the gates would extend higher and higher, their tips grazing the sun, or maybe I was just getting smaller...

I guess that's how heaven would work anyways. Weren't we just tiny humans hoping to be accepted by the almighty God? I've heard that He loved all of his children but then why did the doom of hell exist? But the father would assure us that as long as we prayed everyday, followed the 10 commandments, attended confession, and received the blood and body of Christ, salvation was ours. I could have sworn (but of course didn't) that I heard a sigh of relief from all the other children sitting with their parents. I felt comforted that they were worrying just like me, about those few times that we may have stretched the truth and swore promised I wouldn't do it again.

...back to the opening of the gates; it would be slow, like that of when the wind creeks your bedroom door ajar. But in truth, I never did imagine what I would do with myself once I'd enter my next life. I could only assume I'd wait for the time to come and see where God takes me.