Yesterday my pastor continued a series of talks about heaven. One of his points made me really think about my understanding of paradise. Pop culture usually depicts heaven as a place in the sky built upon clouds. You know the image well. We will all spend our time playing harps and serving as ‘protectors’ of those still on earth. My understanding of heaven, at least not since I was old enough to begin to grasp the Bible, has never really contained those images of clouds and halos. But the question did arise yesterday in my thoughts, “What do I imagine heaven to be?”
The Bible talks in great length about the “new heaven and a new earth” upon the return of Jesus Christ, but what does that mean in tangible terms? My pastor mentioned in his talk that much of our limited “image” of heaven is probably based on our own boring state. The more I think about it, the more I am beginning to believe in that statement. If we don’t treasure those glimpses of “heaven on earth”, then our imagination can’t carry us much further into the realms of heaven. If you don’t appreciate the slivers of joy and excitement found on this rock, then it is probably hard for you to imagine a place much better once this rock has been “restored.”
This “boring” talk doesn’t take into effect the realities of sorrow and disappointment that riddle this world and how they can influence our perception of heaven – but the truth still exists. We all can see glimpes of heaven in the natural, and even relational, elements of this place – things like pristine waters, snow-capped mountains, someone telling you that they love you, etc. As I began to ponder those things that point to heaven, it hit me… either I am a boring person in not appreciating those precusory elements, or I am just plain blind. Well, I have my sight so I must not fully weigh the beauty of this world… thus living a boring life!
I am not a boring person, but my take on life can be. Why? I can be very impatient, and a rushed life is a boring life. I know it seems counterintuitive, but it’s true. A rushed life is a blurred life, and there is nothing exciting or engaging about a blurred perspective on the setting in which we live our lives. I don’t know of anyone that drives through the mountains and doesn’t consider them to be magnificant. But I do know people that live a hurried life in the shadows of mountains every day and would not consider them to be any more special than I do a Texas sunset. This is all due to familiarity. If a rushed life is a blurred life, then a blurred life leads to a callousness to our surroundings.
It is my hope and prayer to live life each day at a slower speed so that I can take it all in. Having a child has helped in that process. He forces me to slow down and see things at his level and pace. No one wants to be boring, and I know that heaven is not boring (Psalm 16:11). So God help me to be sensitive to the things and people around me. They may be glimpses of heaven that You have provided to bless and sustain me in days of trial.
“In the truest sense, Christian pilgrims have the best of both worlds. We have joy whenever this world reminds us of the next, and we take solace whenever it does not.” C.S. Lewis
I love reading your blog. I’m a little new to the blog world but you and Jeff both have taught me and made me think in just the few minutes I spent today reading.
I miss you and Trish.
Whitney