Opinion

Holding on to heavenly moments

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

I have spent the better part of the past week in kind of a pleasant day-dreamy haze.

Part of it's because it's nearly Thanksgiving -- and I love Thanksgiving. The turkey, the pies, the fresh baked bread, family gathered, blessings recognized, and at day's end, a turkey sandwich on white bread with Miracle Whip salad dressing. Yum. It's one of those "heavenly" days.

Oh, sure. It's a lot of work and evidence of all of the hard work is decimated 15 minutes after hands are clasped in the prayer of thanksgiving, but it's worth all that and more.

Heavenly moments. They're far and few between in our busy days. Those brief, fleeting moments when we wish we could freeze time and hold on to that unspeakable joy forever. They're just a glimpse of heaven.

Growing up on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, I have seen sunsets that literally took my breath away. A heavenly moment.

The view of the high canyons in the springtime with the snow-melt cascading down the creeks that carved the high, rocky walls is another heavenly moment

One night, when the kids were little, a thunderstorm came through well after dark, unusual for that area. Thunderstorms are afternoon occurrences along the Front Range, and the storms move east, arriving in McCook I have since discovered, sometime around 1 or 2 a.m. But this one came after the kids were tucked into bed and it brought us out from under our covers as well. We stood at the windows, marveling at the brilliance of the lightning in the night sky, the deep rolling thunder that felt like it was right on top of our heads and the wind whipping the trees, heavy with summer leaves, like they were so much straw. It was an awesome display of the power of God's creation and we were transfixed. A heavenly moment. Glorious.

Heavenly moments are still too far and few between.

We don't talk much about heaven, have you noticed? I confessed to a friend the other day that when the children were young, I hesitated to make heaven sound "too good." You see, I was old enough to realize that their lives would not be without trial, tribulation and troubles. I didn't want to make heaven too appealing, lest they take a "short cut" -- if you know what I mean. How foolish of me. I was old enough to realize that their lives wouldn't be trouble-free, but too young to understand that this fact is precisely why heaven must appeal.

Do you remember that indestructible feeling most of us experience most fully in our teenage years -- that sense of invincibility, that sense that we will live forever, never grow old, never die? That my friend, is a heavenly moment. That is the part of us most perfectly created in the image of our Creator. Our sense of immortality.

Think about it. Nothing else in creation shares this. Animals, for example, live. They experience pain. They experience pleasure. They know the satisfaction of a full belly and a warm, safe place to rest. But they do not know death. It is something that happens to them without any conscious knowledge, no understanding, and no comprehension on their part.

We, on the other hand, comprehend death all too well. We have built our entire culture around avoiding it at all cost. We work out, we fasten our seat belts. We look both ways before crossing the street. We char our meat to destroy lingering bacteria. We get a check up, take antibiotics when we're sick and spend billions of dollars every year on extending this life. Because we know it will end and we, who have lost that sense of invincibility, have forgotten that we were not created for the grave.

I have been well reminded during this last week of what we were created for. And I am lost in a haze of transforming peace having received that reminder. I have re-visited heaven you see, seen it in a clearer light than ever before, and I cannot suppress the joy of re-discovery. Every time I have encountered Jesus' promise, "I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may also be," I've had a heavenly moment. To see Jesus. To be where he is, to see the nail scars and know that I placed them there, then to bathe them with my tears, a mixture of remorse and joy. That was my glimpse of heaven and that's as far as I got in my imaging of what heaven would be like. This week's visit has expanded my imagination of heaven. Surely, the penultimate for me will be as I have just described it. But God has so much more in store for me there, and for you.

Seeing this view of heaven has inspired me to live in the here and now more freely than ever before. To turn away from cowardice and to embrace courage. To speak my heart to those I love, so that there is no lingering doubt in them of my love . To know that, not only did God create the heavens and the earth, but that the heaven he has created is so much more than I've allowed myself to dream. This is the source of my deepening peace.

"More love, more power, more of you in my life," is part of a song written by Jude Del Hierro and recorded by Michael W. Smith on his "Worship" cd. I would add only one other thing. More heaven.

"However, as it is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him -- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit." I Corinthians 2:9, 10

-- Dawn Cribbs has just finished reading "A Travel Guide to Heaven" by Anthony DeStefano. Watch for the review and plan to treat yourself to a preview of that heavenly place prepared for us.

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