How We Know We'll Be Happy in Heaven
Much to my mother’s chagrin, I loved blue jeans and climbing trees. I’d shimmy up the trunk of a tall pine the neighborhood boy couldn’t reach without standing on his bicycle. My trees were forts, castles in the clouds, and hothouses for daydreaming.
My arms and legs no longer scale trees or swing from branches. But I still feel the magic when I peek through leafy limbs.
Our kitchen sits over our garage. The crepe myrtle growing beside our garage spreads its lovely branches in front of a bank of casement windows. When I look out from my kitchen table, my heart smiles. I’m living in a heated and air-conditioned treehouse.
I wasn’t thinking about how much I enjoyed the view from trees when we picked out our house plan or when we planted the crepe myrtle. But God remembered.
Our round kitchen table, which doubles as my workstation, reminds me of happy times around my grandmother’s kitchen table. Max, my brilliant standard poodle, ties me to Pepper, another lost treasure from my childhood.
Jesus said, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:2-3 NLT).
When I recognized how God had restored these long-lost pleasures in my earthly dwelling, I got excited. How much more will my heavenly home be filled with special touches that show God’s intimate knowledge of me? What deeper joys await us in heaven?
Not only does this help us face our own death, but it also softens the grief we feel when we lose a loved one.
When our daughter graduated from university, she wanted to live in French-speaking Switzerland. Mixed emotions swirled inside of me when she secured a job there. I rejoiced with her that her dream was coming true. But tears seeped out of my eyes when, after our final hugs, she turned to go through airport security. I wasn't sure when I'd see her again.
When we lose a loved one, we grieve. We know how much we’ll miss them. But when we remember they will be living the biggest dream of their lives, we can also rejoice for them.
Heaven will be better than all of our childhood daydreams combined. The landscape will beat any treetop view. And the air will be honeysuckle sweet.
“... No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT).
In what ways has God granted you the desires of your heart? How does that boost your hope for heaven?
Copyright © May 2018 Debbie W. Wilson, used by permission.
