I have been thinking about heaven recently. I have also been thinking about bridal showers and baby showers. Both of these concepts-the showering of a bride and mother and heaven-are foreign to me. I want to think that my idea of God's kingdom is as ambiguous as my idea of being a wife or mother.
I think it is significant that I attended a bridal shower and a baby shower in one week and another bridal shower the following week. There are people close to me who are approaching different stages in their journey through life. Brittany is getting married in January and at her bridal shower, two girls in attendence talked about making plans for their upcoming weddings. Crystal is having a baby in January and I held Micaela's baby at her baby shower. Her five-week old son, cradled in my arms, is a blessing greater than I could imagine. I don't know how to relate to her place in life. I do not want to, nor do I think it would be appropriate
I had this thought when I held Rylan: this is what ages a person. New life. New responsibility. Life together. Life added to already existant life. Wondrous and burdensome. This thought made me feel so young.
And yet, I think our souls are young no matter where we are in life. Is it possible for us to have an eternal perspective when we live in a finite world? Even this question does not stop some from offering up their own interpretations of the heavenly realm.
Rick Warren says that life is preparation for eternity. In his song "Beautiful," Phil Wickham says that when we arrive at eternity's shores, death will be a memory and there will be no tears. In the Analects, Confucius writes that no one understands him and perhaps, if anyone does, it is heaven. The hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul," says that our faith will be made sight.
I want to believe Heaven is similar to the way Anne Lamott describes prayer in Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith: "...when you pray, you are not starting the conversation from scratch, just remembering to plug back into a conversation that's always in progress."
I think our journey to Heaven is always in progress. Each morning, we are awakened to a new day. God's mercy is new and manifested to us everyday by his creation. If we have any idea of Heaven, it is found in creation.
Plato said that before we were on Earth, we were in a Heaven of Ideas. Because we have previously seen everything in its perfect form, we are able to recognize things in their imperfect form on Earth. According to Plato, this is how man attains knowledge: at one point, he had knowledge of all things.
If we can recognize imperfection, it is because we have some knowledge of perfection. In heaven, all knowledge will be of perfection. The way I know myself will be perfect. The way I know God will be perfect.
Philip Gulley and James Mulholland wrote in their book, If Grace is True: Why God Will Save Every Person: "Now by salvation, I mean much more than a ticket to heaven. I mean much more than being cleansed of our sins and rescued from hell's fire. I mean even more than being raised from the grave and granted eternal life. By salvation, I mean being freed of every obstacle to intimacy with God. We will know as we are known and love as we are loved."
O Lord, haste the day.
Monday, November 24, 2008
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