To you out there, did you ever as a young child wonder, when you look up at the sky at night and you saw all these stars up there, did you ever wonder what these lights were? For myself I can say I used to look up at the stars and wondered about these lights up there.
During our childhood, Dad used to tell us stories about heaven, a beautiful place where it’s always day even though there is no sun. I used to ask him where heaven was and he would answer up there over the sky. Then I would ask him about these lights up there and he would answer, “These are stars.” But what are stars, I wondered. I still wasn’t satisfied with his explanation. Then one evening as I looked up at the stars, I remembered what Dad had said about heaven, a beautiful place somewhere up there. With this in mind I thought, if heaven was up there, maybe these were holes in the sky and it must be the lights of heaven that were shining through the holes, so every time we look up at the stars we have a glimpse of heaven. This is what I believed all through my childhood. It was a happy thought, don’t you think? Maybe you or your children had other explanations regarding these lights up there…
I remember one autumn evening, we were in the bush. My nephew and I went to get some firewood after dark. You know
it gets dark early in the fall. My nephew seemed anxious for us to finish our chore. He was really in a hurry. I knew he wanted to go back to playing cards with his brother. It was a clear, chilly evening. I looked up at the stars as usual and I said, “Look at all these stars.” My nephew looked up and asked, “Where? What is a star?” I replied, “These lights up there.” Still looking up, he wanted to know, “Who put them up there?”… I laughed because I knew he wasn’t really interested in the stars; he was anxious to know who put them up there… So of course I told him that these lights up there were holes in the sky and it was the lights of heaven shining through these holes. He wanted to know what heaven is, so I told him what my Dad told me about heaven. He seemed satisfied with my description of heaven. I’m sure every time he looks up at the stars, he thinks he has a glimpse of heaven.
So to you out there, share with us some of the damnest things your kids or your students say sometimes. We’d like to read about them some time in the future.
So ‘til next time, so long…
(Chisasibi)
