Getting Your Reward in Heaven

When I was a child, I decided that if I did something good, I should get paid for it. My parents did not believe in paying us for expected work. Our duties were assumed. We got a weekly allowance for doing our chores. When I questioned what my pay would be for something I thought was extra, my mom remarked, “You’ll get your reward in heaven.”

As a first grader, I did not feel that waiting to go to heaven was what I needed. Over the years, however, I have learned that doing good things without recognition or reward is what it means to be a compassionate human being.

I continue to wonder, nevertheless, about what it might mean to get to heaven. What is heaven, anyway? Experiencing heaven on earth is important. On the other hand, I also contemplate what the afterlife might hold.

I want to believe there is a heaven. I fantasize that the animals I have loved will be waiting at the rainbow bridge for us to go together. I look forward to the possibility of reuniting again with loved ones. I recognize that heaven is perceived in similar but diverse ways depending on one’s spiritual and religious convictions. Heaven can range from eternal paradise with God to liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Paths vary to get there, but most have in common faith, good deeds, spiritual realization, or fulfilling divine commands.

Growing up in the Christian tradition, I came to understood that heaven in the hereafter was only possible by faith in Jesus Christ with kind deeds reflecting that faith. Heaven is a celestial paradise with eternal life in God’s presence. Despite what my mom suggested, being a good person would not have been enough without that faith. In addition, I cannot understand how anyone can say they are a Christian and then be cruel to other human beings.

Concepts of heaven differ for Jewish people but most focus on the world to come in the spiritual sense of shared traditions. Followers of Islam see heaven as a peaceful garden with divine pleasures for those who submit to Allah by balancing faith and charitable deeds.

Hinduism focuses on the liberation from earthy bonds such as the cycle of birth, death, rebirth. Heaven and hell are temporary states based on karma (actions) within this cycle, not eternal destinations. Buddhists focus on achieving Nirvana, the cessation of suffering and desire. Some modern traditions suggest the afterlife is what one makes it, or that salvation isn’t about sin but personal growth.

Heaven is all those ideas with the emphasis on loving our neighbors and expressing that love through good works. I strive to get my rewards while on earth, and then heaven will be a bonus.