Going To Church

  One day it dawned on Alice that something was wrong. She was six years old, and attending a church service when it occurred to her. She thought, "I always yawn in church. Oh my, I must be allergic to God!" These yawning fits only seemed to overcome her at church. Alice was mortified! How could she go to heaven if she was allergic to God? She worried her very soul was at stake.
  Alice was a good christian for only being six. Last Christmas she had to memorize a bible passage for the Christmas pageant and recite it before the congregation. She always paid attention in Sunday school. She didn't attend just to color pictures. Every summer for the last two years she had attended vacation bible school. She even had a favorite hymn. She knew the ten commandments and lived her young life accordingly.
  Now tragedy had struck right at the heart of this little girl. What was she going to do about it? Was she the only one who was allergic to God? Who could she talk to about this problem. She did not dare go to the pastor, even though he was a very kind man. If she did he might throw her out of the church forever! Alice didn't dare tell anyone in her Sunday school class either. They might tell everyone in the whole church. She could not think of a single person to which she could confide her problem. But every Sunday she sat in the pew, yawned, and feared God's wrath assuring herself that she was going to go to hell. Every night when she said her prayers she begged God for a cure or an answer. This went on for four months.
  Soon it was summer and time to make the annual family trip to see all her relatives. Her family always stayed with her father's parents. She would share a bed with her great grandmother who came to America from Finland when she was 19. Alice loved to listen to her great grandmother and her grandmother talk to each other in Finn. Alice even knew a few words. Her great grandmother was very old so she spent most of her time in her favorite rocking chair tatting lace doillies or knitting mittens. No child in Alice's family wore store bought mittens, only the ones that great grandma made.
  One night, while sharing a bed with great grandma, Alice decided to approach her with her problem concerning God. She told her great grandma how she yawned in church and was afraid she would not go heaven. Quielty, in the dark, her great grandma told her, "No you are not allergic to God, church services were meant more for grown ups."  She said Alice was just bored."  Alice told her she didn't like going to church, and did that make Alice a bad person? Her great grandma answered, "It doesn't matter where you are when you believe in God. The most impotant thing was that God was in your heart." They soon both fell asleep. But before Alice fell asleep she rejoiced in her great grandma's words. She no longer had to worry about her soul being damned and as to whether or not she was going to heaven. And great grandma had made it all sound so simple. The most important part of religion was belief. Alice felt like the weight of the world had been taken off her tiny shoulders. All throughout Alice's life her great grandma's words remained in Alice's head and in her heart.