The following post was submitted by an anonymous reader of this column:

I really got a lot out of your last post. I could not stop thinking about it — it even kept me up late one night. One of the reasons you wrote about for why we all might be here on Earth still (God’s waiting for us to tell others about Him) really stirred something in my heart. Parenthood is teaching me a lot about God’s love for us & this is what came to mind after reading that post:

It’s like having three kids that you have to live apart from until a set time (which only you know) in the future. Only the oldest child knows you, has memories of you, & loves you as the two other kids are too young. The only way all three can live with you is by their own choice. The oldest already wants to live with you but the other two aren’t sure as they don’t even know you. You, then, have a choice to make — either (1) leave the oldest child with the two younger ones in hopes that he’d share your love for them so that all three might one day come to live with you or (2) only bring the oldest with you & leave the other two behind for good, despite your great love for them. You decide to leave the oldest child (he will come to live with you no matter what at the future date) with the other two, but you’re able to check in via video cam to see how things are progressing.

How frustrating it would be as that date creeps closer to know that your oldest is squandering his time because he doesn’t feel the same urgency you do & that he is not sharing stories about you, how much you love his siblings, or his own memories of how cool of a parent you are in order to convince the other two to want to live with you. Can you imagine the hurt you’d feel if he’d never even mentioned your name (because he’s got a free pass to live with you already)? How selfish. And, obviously, in this analogy I am the selfish, oldest child.