Can't I bring my camera?

I laugh at my son - weeping, because he can not bring his camera to heaven. And I remember the days, thinking that if the Lord came back, I would be ready, clinging to my own blanket too tightly for Him to rip it from my grasp. Maybe He would pity me? Maybe He would make an exception? It is just a little blanket, surely it can come too.... (This was when I was little - I am not referring to my Nate Berkus blanket at the foot of my bed : )

But, chuckle at my son? I am no better now that I was at 5. No different than Judah. Merely less honest. For, is the truth not that we cling to pleasures of this world with such alacrity, we might as well be asking to bring them with us? It is much like C.S. Lewis's analogy when he said that adults who struggle with the concept of heaven without sex, are like children who cannot imagine sex is enjoyable, because it doesn't involve eating chocolate (well, not all the time at least : ) We can not envision one without the other. But the same principle applies to many areas; it is not just sex we can not imagine heaven to be without. And when we enjoy the things that God has given us, more than God Himself, more than the promises of reward in the life to come, we are clinging to our blankets, and our cameras.

Oh! May I say with David, that God's steadfast love is better than life itself!

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. (Psalm 63:1-8)