This week a boy in our Taekwondo school passed away. It has made me think a lot about 2009 when we lost a young family member too soon. To experience the death of a child you love is possibly the most tragic thing that can happen in a person's life. The affects are lifelong. The following is a story I wrote to comfort my family after our loss. I hope it can help others.
Michael Goes to Earth
Once upon a time there was a tiny angel in heaven named Michael. Michael was smaller than all the other angels but God had given him an important job. He was in charge of Heaven’s Nursery. Most people don’t know that there is a nursery in heaven. But there is - ALL the children and babies who for one reason or another do not grow up to be adults go there. It is the place all the babies go if they die.
All the other angels loved to visit the nursery and play with the children. Michael loved all the children too - but he especially loved the babies. He loved giving them baths, snuggling with them, feeding them, and even changing their diapers. He cared for them so much, but since he had never been a baby (since he was an angel and angels come into being in very different ways than humans), he always wondered what it would be like to be born, have a mommy and maybe even a sister like some of the other babies in heaven. Michael loved being an angel - but he was a very curious sort of spirit.
And he wondered often about things outside of heaven. What is earth like? What do animals feel like? He was especially fascinated with Iguanas and Dogs - he’d seen pictures in one of the story books he read to the nursery children and really wanted to see and touch an iguana’s scales and feel a dog’s fur.
Michael was also very curious about mommies. “What do Mommies smell like?” he asked God.
God replied, “Well, Michael, mommies smell like hot chocolate, cookies and microwave pop corn all mixed together.”
“What do Mommies feel like?” Michael asked.
“Mommies are soft and squishy like the warmest feather pillow. Mommies have gentle hands, warm skin, and they have warm salty tears that they shed when they really love something - especially their children.” God told Michael.
Michael asked God about all of these things constantly! God was very kind and told him what these things felt like, but while God is a master at describing things, Michael was still very curious about the Earth. Finally, after being asked about iguanas and dogs for the hundredth time, God asked Michael if he would like a brief opportunity to fulfill all his dreams and experience: the feel of iguanas and dogs, what it is like to have a sister, but most of all what it is like to have a mommy. God told him that it would only be brief - that he would only have a very short time to experience all these things. After all, the other angels were not nearly as good at caring for the nursery as Michael was and he was needed back in heaven just as soon as possible.
Michael was so excited! He could not wait to be and do the things he had always wondered about. He looked at God and said, “Let’s do this thing! I’m ready!” So God reached out a solitary finger and touched the very tip of Michael’s tiny little nose. WHOOSH! POP! Michael found himself floating around in a warm liquid space. Over time, he began to see his new environment. It smelled like hot chocolate, cookies and microwave pop corn. He began to explore his new body - it was GROWING! He was so excited to be growing. Soon he had fingers and toes just like the babies in heaven. He loved baby fingers and baby toes so much. They were so cute and he wiggled them and watched them and savored every minute of it. What adorable fingers and toes he had!
He learned to suck his thumb - which was something that he had learned to do from the babies in heaven. After all, they loved to suck their thumbs. He learned to kick his legs. Soon he realized that he wasn’t alone. He could hear a “Thump! Thump!” and he began to hear a voice. This voice sounded like an angel when she sang. He certainly knew angel song when he heard it. When she would sing, he would kick and squirm with pure joy! He soon realized that this voice was so close and he could reach out and touch its owner. This must be his mother he decided. Only his mother would know how to sing like an angel, after all.
Soon Michael ran out of room in his comfy little liquid place. He was so squished he thought he’d pop! Then he did! Right out of his mommy’s tummy. He came out and it was so cold. It was very bright and for the first time ever, he became scared - and he let everyone know he was scared. He wanted his mommy! Then, suddenly, there she was and just as beautiful as he expected. She had golden hair and deep brown eyes. She looked at him with so much love that Michael knew this must be her. She was soft and warm just like God had promised and he nuzzled right up to her and snuggled down.
Finally, Michael’s mommy told him it was time to go home. At first, he was shocked by this, because he knew that his real home was in heaven. But she took him to a warm house with lots of people and he even had a sister! His sister loved him so much - she had big brown eyes and looked a lot like his mommy only quite a bit shorter.
Michael found out soon that his mommy loved animals of all sorts. She always had animals around her and Michael thought to himself that God had been very wise to give him to this mommy. She had an iguana and a dog - and he got to feel both of these animals. The iguana was warmish and scaly and he decided, that while it was an awesome animal, only experiencing that feeling a few times was plenty. The dog was very soft and warm and fuzzy. He loved the feel of the dog and decided that when he got back to heaven, he must take the children from the nursery on a field trip to Heaven’s Kennel.
Michael didn’t only experience the good things on earth though. He went through all the experiences that little babies go through. He had tummy aches and colds. He began getting sore gums. Oh, Michael was not happy at these times. He would fuss and tell his mommy all about it. You see, Michael had never experienced anything like a tummy ache in heaven. These things just didn’t exist there! These experiences were so different for him that he just didn’t know what to do with them other than cry and tell everyone around him that tummy aches did not make him happy one teensy tiny bit!
One night, after Michael had kissed his mommy goodnight for the third time, God came to him in a dream. God said, “Michael, it is time to come home now. It has been 14 months and the children in the nursery keep asking about you. The kids need for you to referee the kick ball game. The babies need for you to read stories to them.”
Michael awoke with a start. His dream had startled him but he realized that he was needed in heaven - he had a job to do and he had experienced all of his dreams here on earth. He began to cry out for his mommy - could he just smell her and touch her one more time? The lights around him began to dim. He closed his eyes...
When Michael opened his eyes again, God was standing over him with one finger touching the end of Michael’s tiny nose. God smiled at Michael and said, “Welcome back, my tiny angel. We are so glad you are home!” God patted Michael on his head and ruffled his curly blonde locks.
Michael looked to God and smiled. “Oh, God, you are not gonna believe all of this!” and he told God of all he had experienced on Earth. About his dog, his iguana, his beautiful sister, and most of all about his mommy. He told God about how she smelled and how she felt. God was pleased that Michael was so happy with all he had done on Earth. But he was anxious for Michael to take up his post in the nursery because all the other angels who had been filling in were so very busy with other tasks.
God looked at him with a big grin and said, “And now, Michael, get back to work. Vacation is over.”
Michael happily went back to his job at the nursery caring for all the babies and children of heaven - and knowing and understanding now what it was like to be a child, his job meant so much more to him. He thought of his mommy and smiled as he picked up one of his own beautiful babies and began bouncing her on his knee.
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