Can you imagine a heaven
without pets?
There is a very special place
where beloved pets go after they die. This is only a temporary location. But
there are trees and grass and lakes, and everything they love. Here they can
play and eat and sleep, even better than they did, before they died. Now, there
are no aches or worries or dangers of any kind to trouble or threaten them. The
only joy missing is their beloved human companion, you.
All health is restored
completely, and all injuries are healed. Dogs and cats play with each other like
youngsters, and they do not have time to feel lonely for you. They miss you, and
with the special wisdom that animals have, they trust that this condition will
get better. And they confidently wait as they frolic.
A wonderful day will come for
each of them, when in the middle of playing they will suddenly feel something is
different. And all their senses will be at the height of excitement and
exuberance. They will sniff the air and look off in the distance where they
recognize that dearly loved special presence. Then they will call out in
elation, and with eyes shining and tail going wild, tear off at a full gallop,
almost flying over the green grass.
Your expected arrival has
been sensed, and now there is nothing that can keep the two of you apart, ever
again. As you run toward each other the tears flow from your eyes. Your pet
leaps into your arms, and you cling together in jubilant reunion. The joyous
kisses are all over your face, and you kiss back, just as ecstatically. Your
hands so lovingly caress once more the beloved fur, the head and neck and body
you knew so well. And you look into each other’s loving eyes, and all those old,
wonderful shared feelings are back, again.
And then something will call
the both of you on, to a different field of warmth and nurture, where all the
love you knew now comes to fruition. With your pet, you leave that special
waiting area, walk into the main part of heaven, and begin a new existence
there, together.
If you accept that pets can
love us as much as we do them, then the logic is clear and cannot be denied. If
you believe that there is a heaven for people, then they must be there, waiting
for us, when we cross over. Heaven is love, and pets always share that with us
Wallace Sife, Ph. D. The
Loss of a Pet (Revised Edition, 1998) Ch. 16