Have you ever wondered about Heaven? I mean beyond whether there is one or not.
(I have to assume you already made a decision one way or the other on the whether-there-is-one-or-not issue. At some point everyone has to, even if you don’t want to. There is only so long you can put those kinds of thought experiments off. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a trivial question, far from it. It’s just not the point of my heart this early morning Monday.)
So, let’s assume that you have decided there is a Heaven and you are hoping to go there, have you ever just wondered, exactly what IS Heaven going to be like? I mean, what exactly is going to be happening there for eternity? That’s a long time, unfathomable really, and I must confess that from what I learned in my early childhood Sunday School indoctrination, I was terrified to admit in my late night prayers to God that, it all sounded, rather boring.
Actually, thinking back I think the issues wasn’t so much what I learned about Heaven, but the fact that I really didn’t learn hardly anything about Heaven. No one seemed to know much (or at least I didn’t pay any attention to what they might have known) beyond that there was definitely going to be a day when upon entering the pearly gates, us Heaven-believers were going to stand at the Judgment seat and God himself had The List (contributory to more than a bit of childhood insomnia).
The fact that there seemed to be a great deal of conversation and little to no agreement on whether the place was populated by spirits of those gone on or we might be ‘asleep’ in the ground for some time prior to eternal habitation augmented by your views of purgatory or the tribulation or both we might be sleeping a long time and then get new bodies or present to a holding station somewhere just short of Heaven… all quite confusing and for the most part, for the longest time I decided not to think about it. Well except for this: I decided, in my own understanding that since most of what I had gleaned in 50 years or so indicated Heaven was bound to be primarily about God, not only would we be singing His praises, but we would likely be doing it in relative isolation. In other words, I decided to forget about all those problems with spirits and new bodies and ‘sleeping’ and had decided that knowing the people we know and love here on Earth would certainly not be part of God’s plan, so basically, life here as we know it, ended.
And then Jake died.
And that made me want to listen a little bit closer to those who might have thought about this too…
It made me want to think a bit more…
Mostly, it made me want to make sure I wasn’t being fooled.
So in the last four years of thinking, and learning and ruminating, it dawned on me, these last few days, something about Heaven that I had never considered. In the eons of time, forever time, where days are like a blink of an eye and we are here, busy in the midst of Christmas trees and shopping and baking and parties, when God in Heaven looks down and sees His creation celebrating the birth of His Son, every year, what’s going on up there in Heaven?
So here is where my mind went and where my heart followed right along.
I think God must be proud of the beautiful things he has created, the humans in this imperfect world who are singers and dancers and thinkers and diplomats, law makers and law keepers, humanitarians and carpenters, dog lovers, encouragers, grandmothers and nurses, an endless array of connecting and necessary talents and gifts and propensities that He knew would bind us together. And the more I thought about it, in the few times, when we get as close to Heaven that our Earthly existence allows, it’s almost always about the sweet taste of those things and those people and their gifts. And I thought to myself. God loves who he made us to be here on Earth, is it just possible that you get to be that, but perfectly, once you get to Heaven?
I don’t really know if Heaven is up or here or both. I am pretty sure it doesn’t matter if I know the answers to those questions. The one think I know for certain is I won’t know for certain ALL about Heaven till I get there. That’s obviously how God wants it. But I am as certain as an imperfect human can be, and with a peace that passes understanding in my heart that, Heaven, with open doors swinging wide in welcome to as many different humans that have been, are, and will be, must have an amazing celebration, far from boring, at Christmas and most likely every day. And I think this must be true, because Heaven can only be populated with the beautiful creations of us humans and every time another believer shakes this mortal coil, I just bet Heaven rejoices with whatever talents that child of God’s brought with him.
A mother knows her son, almost as good as His Father in Heaven does. Jake’s probably in charge of parties and fireworks, at a minimum.
PS Thank you Mark and Kazel, you know who you are and why.
Bible verse of the day: Luke 6:41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. (Jesus did this).
Quote of the day: Aim at heaven, and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth, and you will get neither. C. S. Lewis
