Strangely, I have been thinking a lot about heaven. This is a tricky topic because, of course, we don't really know anything about heaven. So everything I am thinking is speculation; nonetheless, it is changing my every day perspective. And actually, I would say heaven is something worth speculating on, maybe even necessary. My imagination is taking over and my mind explores different possibilities of what heaven will be like. I read G.K. Chesterton's book Orthodoxy a few months ago and he has an absolutely mind blowing chapter entitled "The Ethics of Elfland". He talks about creativity, imagination, fantasy, fairy tales etc. Here is one excerpt I like:
My first and last philosophy, that which I believe in with unbroken certainty, I learnt in the nursery. I generally learnt it from a nurse; that is, from the solemn and star-appointed priestess at one of democracy and tradition. The things I believed most then, the things I believe the most now, are the things called fairy tales. They seem to me to be the entirely reasonable things. They are not fantasies: compared with them other things are fantastic. Compared with them religion and rationalism are both abnormal, though religion is abnormally right and rationalism abnormally wrong. Fairyland is nothing but the sunny country of common sense. It is not earth that judges heaven, but heaven that judges earth; so for me at least it was not earth that criticised elfland, but elfland that criticised earth. I knew the magic beanstalk before I had tasted beans; I was sure of the Man in the Moon before I was certain of the Moon"
It is easy to think of heaven as fantastical or unreal, but truly it is entirely reasonable just like G.K. Chesterton suggests of fairy tales. It makes sense that there is a heaven, it is a part of Christian belief. It is, however, somewhat difficult to even think about since we know so little about what God has in store for us in the afterlife. After all, who ever could have imagined some of the reality of the life we live in now!
Or I love this one too:
"A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition of Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore."
Again, God made Nature so wonderful and each person so unique, really, we can only imagine what heaven will be like! I would not say that I want to go to heaven now; but I would say that when the time is right I will be excited to see what heaven is like. I do not fear dying or the afterlife. I have also often think of C.S. Lewis's "Till We Have Faces" which is the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche retold. The village sacrifices Psyche to save itself but she actually is taken by the faceless 'God' to live in the mystical mountains and be his 'wife'. The main character, Orual, goes to find her beloved sister, Pysche, in the mountains. When Orual does, in fact, find Psyche in the mountains happily 'married', she cannot understand her new life (heaven). Orual is engulfed in her selfish love for Psyche and cannot let her loved one go.
It all is quite mysterious. Although these quotes and books may sound existential, they are not. As scripture says, we must keep our eyes on the goal and persevere. And that brings me to the second point I have been contemplating. I have a lot of work to do here on earth. Most of it will probably never be publicly recognized. But the important thing is that I seek God's will and try my best to always serve him. Augustine said in his "Grace and Freewill" that we all are suppose to be on the road to sainthood. That means I am suppose to be perfect! And since I am fallen, I cannot do that without God's grace and continually asking him for help. Hopefully that attempt to be holy will bring me to heaven someday, to live forever with the Lord. I think of how much I love my two children and how I only want the best for them. How much more God loves us and wants the best for us.
Mom, I ask that wherever you are, you intercede for us here on earth!
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updated by Mike...
I recommend the book: Everything You Wanted to Know About Heaven (but never dreamed to ask) by Peter Kreeft. We actually own this... I'll recommend it to Cynthia!
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