Category Archives: Heaven

Picture-Perfect

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My daughter Linnea is in Michigan with me this week, husband Adam, 3 year old Skylar, 2 year old Micah, and 4 month old Autumn. Having children around enlivens the rest of us. Their enthusiasm for life is contagious, even the way they hit the “go” switch the minute they come to consciousness each morning and keep going till they’re ready to drop.

This afternoon as Skylar and Micah napped, Autumn didn’t, so since I was babysitting, this little girl and I had some one-on-one time. We unloaded the dishwasher together, picked up toys, played peek-a-boo, took a stroller ride, and sat in a rocker. As we cuddled there, she fell asleep in my arms, melting into a limp bundle of pudgy beauty.

I couldn’t help but study her sweet face the whole time she slept, marveling at how perfectly she is put together. Of course no one is perfect, but looking at her today, she sure did seem to be.

Looks can be deceiving, though. In Autumn’s short life she’s already demonstrated enough me-first episodes (especially during the night!) to convince us she isn’t perfect. But then again, we’re not surprised.

“Welcome to an imperfect world, little one.” (She’ll fit right in.)

Although the odds for perfection in this world are against us, life didn’t start out that way. Eden was flawless, and earth’s first citizens, Adam and Eve, probably qualified as perfect. For how long, we don’t know. Maybe an eon. Maybe 10 minutes. It certainly wasn’t God’s fault they threw perfection overboard for a blemished existence. They just didn’t carefully ponder the consequences.

Before we come down too hard on them, though, we have to admit we do the same thing. God sets out guidelines for us that have perfection written into them, just as he did for Adam and Eve. We then tweak them to our liking and step in a compromised direction without seriously considering the consequences. When we find ourselves in a mess, we turn back toward God and say, “How could you let this happen to me?”

Such an accusation is almost comical.

Lest we despair, though, he lets us know a time is coming when this unruly tug-of-war within us will end, because perfection will be part of our everyday lives. He says in 1 Corinthians 13, “When the perfect comes…” (v. 10) On that day, Adam and Eve will experience a déjà vu moment, having lived it once already, but the rest of us will be delightfully shocked when it happens. And it will, because God said so. He also said, “My way is perfect, and all of my promises prove true.” (2 Samuel 22:31)

So, what about baby Autumn? In my humble grandma opinion, she couldn’t be any more perfect. But when true perfection comes, it sure will be nice to have her sleeping through the night.

“The law of the Lord is perfect,reviving the soul.” (Psalm 19:7)

Just Heavenly

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Since November of 2009 when death took Nate out of my daily life, I’ve missed him continually. His picture sits on my desk, and when I look at his smiling face, it’s natural to smile back. Of course we can’t communicate anymore, but I’m just practicing for the future when once again we will.

Heaven is real to me. I believe everything God says, and he says heaven is a specific place. I know Nate has gone there and one day I will, too. When I smile at Nate’s picture, part of my pleasure is in visualizing the togetherness heaven promises. But Nate isn’t the only one in my mental picture. Jesus is, too, supremely so.

I remember watching a video of Erwin Lutzer’s mother on her 103rd birthday. Her husband had passed away several years before, and she longed to go to her heavenly home, too. Someone asked if she was looking forward to being reunited with him. She smiled in acknowledgment but said, “I want to see Jesus.”

During the last 2½ years, I’ve received 9 books about heaven. One was inspired by the experiences of a 4 year old who seems to have briefly visited heaven during a surgery. Because I agreed with the title, “HEAVEN IS FOR REAL,” I was eager to read it. While trying to be mindful that the report was given by a young child, I enjoyed possibility-thinking as I read. What impressed me most was Colton’s attitude. It seemed easy for him to take in all he experienced, at face value. No skepticism. No yes-buts. Just of-courses, and why-nots!

The Bible tells us flat-out that we can learn from children, and Colton taught me, not so much about heaven as about accepting what God says about it without superimposing my own opinion over it. Children are pros at literal thinking so that what they hear is what they believe. Even Jesus pointed this out in his teachings. So maybe we ought to think about heaven like children do.

And what do they think? First and foremost, Jesus is there.

One of my own children, as young as Colton was, made a statement about heaven I’ve never forgotten. Little Louisa came to me, looking concerned. “You’re not going to heaven very soon, are you Mom?”

“No, probably not till I’m really old,” I said.

“Well, when I get to heaven, where should I look for you?” she said.

While thinking about what I should say, she came up with her own answer. “Just be standing next to Jesus. I know I’ll be able to find him real easy, and then I’ll find you, too!”

Colton, Louisa, and Mrs. Lutzer are 3 fine examples of how we’re to think about heaven: it’s a real place, we’ll go there someday, and Jesus will be waiting to greet those of us who believe in him.

Jesus said, “I am coming again to welcome you into my own home, so that you may be where I am.” (John 14:3)

Camaraderie over a Cross

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Yesterday while at Walmart, I was on my way to the check-out through the seasonal aisle when something made me stop. Though the shelves were loaded with flags, red-white-and-blue merchandise, ice chests on wheels, and patriotic novelties, at the end stood a woman inspecting something that wasn’t festive at all: a wooden cross decorated with silk flowers.

Memorial Day had just passed, and the crosses had all been marked down for quick sale. But what did they have to do with Memorial Day?

When I was growing up, the name most frequently used for this holiday was Decoration Day. Families made time for a trip to the cemetery before the last Monday of the month, putting flowers, crosses, or flags on their family graves. Picnicking would come on that Monday, but serious thoughts of loved ones who’d already died came ahead of that.

The Walmart cross display let me know there were still people who followed the grave-decorating tradition, and apparently I was standing down the aisle from one of them. A woman studied the crosses, and I studied her, wondering what was going through her head. She picked one up, gently running her hand across the artificial white flowers.

Who had she buried? And how long ago? Was her heart still hurting as she held the cross? More importantly, did she have a relationship with God? Did she know he had gained victory over death?

As rambunctious kids a few feet from us begged their mothers to buy fireworks, I thought about how serious life becomes after death hits a family. When we were children, we didn’t think about death until a grandpa or great auntie died. Then we watched adults struggle with tears and became aware that death was a big deal, something unusual, unpleasant, and severe.

But of course it doesn’t have to be. In my prayer group this morning, one of the ladies asked the Lord to “take” a woman on our list who was in physical pain and a slow decline. If death was only unpleasant and severe, we couldn’t have justified praying like that. But because our friend was sure of her heavenly destination, asking God for her death was a way to bless her life.

As I stood and watched a stranger struggle over what to do with a Walmart cross, I felt a certain camaraderie with her. I, too, often thought of several important family graves. Eventually the woman gently put the cross back in its place on the shelf and then covered her mouth with her hand, an outward sign of inward turmoil.

In the end, she just walked away.

I hoped she knew about the cross, the one on Calvary, where Jesus’ blasted the power of death like a flame explodes a firecracker. Boom! Gone! Calvary’s cross had no decorative flowers, but what happened there is the one and only reason we could sincerely pray for our dying friend, “Lord, please take her.”

“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)