Seven Years Old

“Mom, how old will I be in heaven?”

“You’ll be whatever age you choose to be.”

“And I’ll be that age forever and ever?”

“Forever and ever. Any age you choose.”

He remembered that conversation with his mother. He was five years old then and had decided he would be eternally five when he went to heaven. Then, during his sixth year, he realized being six years old was even better and decided he would be eternally six when he went to heaven. But now, in this his seventh year, it was going so well that he decided to be seven eternally. He could not imagine any year going any better and he promised himself that however good being eight seemed he was not going to change his mind. Seven years old was it. He was going to be seven years old for eternity.

But then he thought of a problem. What if his friends chose different ages? What if they chose to be much older in heaven? They wouldn’t be able to play together. What if there were no other seven year olds? He would have no friends and nobody to play with for eternity. The problem began to really scare him. He needed his friends to agree to be seven years old eternally with him. It couldn’t be that hard. He had already gotten his friends to agree to become astronauts and go to space with him. Before that they had agreed to be cowboys with him. He had good friends and he wasn’t worried. They would all go to heaven and be the same age together forever and ever and everything would go on eternally for as good as he was having it now, in this, his seventh and best year on the earth.