Because this is what I’m really thinking about this morning:

Posted by Brooke | July 1, 2009 | 32 Comments

Do you think we’ll sleep in heaven?

I heard somewhere that we’ll eat in heaven, but that we won’t sleep. We’ll enjoy our same relationships, but there will be few words between us.

And sometimes I just can’t wrap my mind around this (because I’m tired and want to sleep). How do you contemplate the afterlife? What do you think it will be like? Or does that kind of thing matter to you: do you think about it? Or are you content to just trust that whatever it is, it’s perfect?

Comments

32 Responses to “Because this is what I’m really thinking about this morning:”

Dovie
July 1st, 2009 @ 7:27 am

Sleep feels delicious to me so I hope that there is sleep there. I love a good nap just about better than anything. I don’t get to nap often so I’ve just been banking that there would be sleep there. Also I’ve often hoped that my hair could be long and flowing and never tangle. That would be heaven. The other trifle I hope for is that everything is full of color. White, white, white, might get a little tedious. All that said as long as the people I love are there it will be heaven.
JM
July 1st, 2009 @ 7:30 am

I currently love to sleep, but if we won’t really need it, maybe I won’t miss it at all. Personally, I do think about the hereafter pretty regularly. I like to consider the idea that we will be our perfected selves. When I start feeling down about my limp and lifeless hair, the freak show of chin whiskers on my face, and the PCOS that slows down my metabolism, I just remind myself that after I’m dead I will look great. A friend of mine once said, “what if you don’t look any different? What if the only difference is that you don’t care anymore how you look?” I told her to shut her yap and quit raining on my method for getting through a self-conscious day.

In all seriousness, I think knowing that life after this one is going to be better is a huge blessing. I don’t get too worried about the details. If we talk to each other less, that could be a really nice thing. Of course, I currently have a four year old who never stops talking, loudly. Maybe I’m not the best one to ask about that particular notion.
Faith.Not.Fear
July 1st, 2009 @ 10:53 am

1) All the people in outer darkness will have to do the laundry, dishes, and any other seemingly endless mortal chores.

2) Wherever I end up up there, I would like the job of Sunset and Rainbow Maker. That would be heavenly!

I bet your friend is right, JM — that things like chocolate, good looks, and famous stars, etc. won’t be important at all — we might have to overcome our addiction to them, though.

When I heard that Michael Jackson passed away, my heart rejoiced for him, that he could finally be himself. I hope he’s happy that way, though! It might be hard to adjust to, after a lifetime of self-loathing.

I guess I’d better start liking the “[woman] in the mirror” more ! Even on the bad days!
Nookleerman
July 1st, 2009 @ 11:28 am

In truth, you don’t really enjoy the act of sleeping, since you’re asleep. The feeling of relaxation as you melt into your fluffy warm bed and release all your cares of the day, combined with that groggy, slightly stiff but still pleasant feeling you get on those rare occasions when you actually get to wake up on your own (why do they have to be so rare?) are what is so great about sleep. My guess is some combination of those two feelings is what we’ll feel all the time.
Luisa Perkins
July 1st, 2009 @ 11:33 am

I believe that we won’t need to sleep or eat, but that we will do so for pure enjoyment. I hope we’ll sleep, since I dearly love dreaming.
Emily U
July 1st, 2009 @ 11:59 am

This may seem odd, but I find the topic of the afterlife depressing. I don’t think about it at all unless I’m in a Sunday School lesson about the second coming or something like that.

I don’t find it depressing because I think I’ll be unhappy there, but because I think discussion of the topic prompts odd speculations that make me uncomfortable. Like whether polygamy exists there. Or whether we’ll “forget” about loved ones who chose a wayward earth life. Or just how exclusive the Celestial Kingdom will be.

But I haven’t lost anyone very dear to me yet, and when that happens, I will probably enjoy reflecting on the afterlife a lot more.
Sage
July 1st, 2009 @ 12:19 pm

I haven’t thought about it for awhile. My friend told my son once that if they made it to the celestial kingdom they would be able to create any type of world they wanted to. That may or may not be true, but it was great incentive for my hyper-creative son to strive for the best behavior! He started thinking of cool worlds that he could create.

I mostly think I won’t always feel like I’m behind and not getting work done, or making the same mistakes over again. I hope! That would be my idea of heaven. And being able to love perfectly.
mormonhermitmom
July 1st, 2009 @ 12:35 pm

So will husbands and wives have “alone time” in a private place? Or do you just put up an opaque forcefield around yourself?
mormonhermitmom
July 1st, 2009 @ 12:36 pm

Will we have houses or pods or something to live in or are we all going to be floating around in the atmosphere?
Katie
July 1st, 2009 @ 1:11 pm

While growing up I spent many Sundays after church at my Grandma’s house. After helping her set the table I would go to the cookie drawer and choose a cookie. However, aside from the cookie drawer, she had her personal stash of what she called her “celestial cookies” because she thought they were so good. They were just store bought, wafer-like covered in chocolate things, but she LOVED them. I hope that she is eating her favorite cookies now that she has passed on.

As for myself, I don’t know. . . I agree with Emily U that the speculation makes me uncomfortable.
laurel
July 1st, 2009 @ 1:13 pm

I think this falls in the category where things start getting made up and passed along as true, though there’s no way anyone really knows. With these categories I think it’s best to wait and find out when we actually need to know.
Brenda
July 1st, 2009 @ 2:03 pm

I have a hard time picturing the afterlife. I love sleeping, eating, and wearing sassy, fun clothes. And I’m sure I won’t be doing any of those things after I die, which in many ways makes me a bit sad.
Strollerblader
July 1st, 2009 @ 2:07 pm

I sometimes like to ponder on what my “perfected body” might mean, but other than that, I just assume that I’ll be beyond happy there.
Strollerblader
July 1st, 2009 @ 2:08 pm

Oh, and that I’ll get all of my “wait until after I’m dead” questions answered. Those questions that really can’t be answered here, and that God will have to tell me the answers to once I get there and can handle the topics.
Christa
July 1st, 2009 @ 2:59 pm

I have a theory (it’s just that- my own theory that I like to imagine) about what we’ll look like- so our bodies are supposed to be perfect, but how my grandmother sees her perfect body is certainly not how I see her perfect body; so I think we will each see each other as what we imagine their perfect body being- does that make sense? I’ll see myself as my 18 year old body but my husband may see me as my 30 year old self, and I’ll see my grandma as her 60 year old body, but when she looks in the mirror maybe she’ll see her 20 year old self…
This is how I like to imagine it being.
Sue
July 1st, 2009 @ 3:44 pm

I tend not to speculate too much about the after-life and other such “unanswerable” questions. Seems to me like it could easily become one of those gospel hobbies we’re warned about every so often.

I do have great faith that it will be perfect, though!

=)
jenny
July 1st, 2009 @ 4:21 pm

(I agree with Sue.)

But, I do like to have a little fun occassionally at my husband’s expense. I like to tease him that (along the same lines as no sleeping and no eating) there will be no need for doing IT. First comes the cod-fish: open mouth, close mouth, open mouth, close mouth. Then comes the exasperated sigh and “we will have the power to create {and populate} worlds” speech–followed by lengthy and thorough quoting of *obscure* scripture passages and writings of past and present leaders in the church. I then calmly tell him that it still says nothing about actually doing IT. By this time he has this sort of frenetic frustration going on, accompanied by a lot of head shaking. Drives him crazy.
{I’m evil, and I enjoy it immensely.}

But as I am crazy about him, we don’t have that conversation very often…
Ashlee
July 1st, 2009 @ 4:29 pm

I think ponderings on the afterlife are amusing at times. But believe that no one really knows for sure. I wish people wouldn’t “teach” on these ponderings in the classrooms of the church. It’s a tangent.

My brain is always on a tangent… but I don’t think tangents belong in Sunday School or Relief Society or Elders Quorum. Keep it simple, stupid!

There’s my funny two cents.
Amanda L.
July 1st, 2009 @ 5:33 pm

I don’t think about it often…as far as the particulars go. I too love to eat and sleep as much as the next person. I wonder if part of our mortal journey though is getting to a place spiritually where we will give up all those earthly desires to dwell with our families and our Father in Heaven in the celestial kingdom. I don’t know what it will be like there, but I have to have faith that that’s where I want to be.
Faith.Not.Fear
July 1st, 2009 @ 5:51 pm

Just so no one shares my ideas as doctrine in Sunday School —
I don’t KNOW that the people in outer darkness will have to do the laundry, dishes, etc.
I just figure I don’t want to be doing it eternally.
Faith.Not.Fear
July 1st, 2009 @ 5:53 pm

And I’m intent on not going there!
Lucy
July 1st, 2009 @ 7:10 pm

I wish I knew. It both calms me and scares me to death. No pun intended.
Lee Ann
July 1st, 2009 @ 7:10 pm

I get to think about this topic a lot, because I have a kid who’s obsessed on the topic. He’s looking forward to finding out what it’s like to get eaten by a dinosaur because you’re, you know, immortal, so anything’s possible. And he’s always wondered.

And if the dinosaurs are eating straw, he’ll probably ask to be reassigned.
cornnut32
July 1st, 2009 @ 9:12 pm

sleep is heaven. heaven must be like sleep. so there you go….an eternity of sleeping.
Selwyn
July 2nd, 2009 @ 12:19 am

I hope that it will be restful (put those burdens down!) and we can have rest. Who would want to be without dreams?

I think that overall we will be happy with what we are doing, whatever it is. After all, if it’s our “heaven”, we can’t be unhappy else it wouldn’t be heaven!

Jenny, I must be really tired – when you wrote “there will be no need for doing IT” I thought “Why would we need computers???” I guess I better catch up on my sleep!
jenny
July 2nd, 2009 @ 6:31 am

(Selwyn, THAT’S funny! Go sleep.)
Sage
July 2nd, 2009 @ 8:24 am

Selwyn and Jenny, I thought IT was computer related too!!!! And I’m awake (wait, the baby was up every two hours last night!)
Peyton
July 2nd, 2009 @ 11:53 am

But I like IT!

(I thought you meant computers too.)
jenny
July 2nd, 2009 @ 12:25 pm

(I’d be kinda bummed out if my husband got that frustrated and upset about there being no {need for} computers in heaven…):)
Sage
July 2nd, 2009 @ 1:07 pm

I think life will be much like it is here…doesn’t it say somewhere that this life is a shadow of what will be…or something like that. Only it would be the best parts, right?

If you don’t enjoy sex, (sorry can’t call it IT) try reading Laura Brotherson’s book. I’m with Peyton. I hope and expect that we will still have physical intimacy in heaven! : ) We will have a perfected body.
jenny
July 2nd, 2009 @ 3:38 pm

(Hey, I never said I don’t enjoy sex!
I just think that if ever the topic of what will be in the afterlife comes up, it’s fun to drive my husband a little crazy for a minute… He knows I love him to pieces.)
Maggie
July 2nd, 2009 @ 11:43 pm

heaven is sleep, right? It’s big soft featherdown pillows, 2000 threadcount sheets, and a masseuse.