Am I looking forward to it?
I've heard people tell me that it's a place where it's all sterilized and light, clouds and cherubs with wings and harps. That heaven is a state of mind or that it is one big church service for all eternity.
Is a heaven as described above a cause for celebration? or a motivation to live a life with purpose and passion for what lies after death?
If I read my Bible right it seems that all those descriptions fall woefully short and are drastically off the mark.
I read of heaven as a PARADISE! A place where family members are re-united, and our bodies eat food and fruit from the trees of life. A Paradise we lost when mankind was banished from the garden of Eden. It is Eden regained with its lush vegetation, rivers, trees and animals. where we dwell in a city and a place where relationships are formed, where we can remember and share the stories of our lives from this earth. Where we have occupations and jobs and rewards. A place were pain and sorrow cease. A place where our Creator lives with us and sustains all life...
All this is heady stuff.
I was wondering...my life here is filled with sorrow and grief and struggle. It is the journey through these "problems", "difficulties" or"opportunities" that bring meaning and growth, it is what makes life an adventure.
Since I've never known life without the heartache of defeat and the glory of victory (in this life we cannot understand or have one without the other), I can not begin to describe what life would be like without either experience.
Yet, it seems in Paradise tears are wiped away & sorrows shall cease. To my mind that is unfathomable.
I do believe, in faith, that all the struggles I experience in this life pale in comparison so the quality of life in Paradise. It seems it has always been our Creators plan to return us to the Garden of Eden where life was first breathed into mankind.
For those who say that Heaven or Paradise is just a fantasy... you might as well live it up now and take your chances. Get what you can and die with the most toys. You still can't take them with you.
I believe we were created for something more.
Why serve others if it doesn't mean anything in the big scheme of things? is the reward only in the doing? or do the actions of our lives build something of value beyond the grave?
The Bible says to store up treasures in heaven where moths and rust and thieves can't rob it. It seems our Creator brought us to life with good works prepared in advance for us to do. A purpose for lives that live beyond our these temporary earthly bodies.
It sounds to me like my life here is training for Paradise. A full life here is just the beginning of a fuller life there. So what will my existence be filled with there? I'm not completely sure, but I am certain that I will know my Creator even as I am fully known now by my Creator. -that alone is life more abundant and greater than my capacity for life here and now.
We were made for HEAVEN for PARADISE.
YES, I am looking forward to it!
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