Category Archives: Heaven

Choosing Names

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As each one of our children was born, Nate and I established two guidelines for naming them: (1) to follow Swedish tradition, and (2) for their names to be uncommon. Looking back, I wish we’d have put more weight on the meanings, but in the end, we named them Nelson, Lars, Linnea, Klaus, Hans, Louisa and Birgitta.

We knew we were taking a chance by using unusual names and hoped our offspring wouldn’t hate them, but of course as youngsters they did. They wanted to share commonly used names so that when they were asked, no repetition would be necessary.

But as we hoped, they all grew into their names, eventually becoming thankful for them. I always said, “If you get famous for any reason, you won’t even have to use your last name.”

In a hospital scene repeated seven times (at Swedish Covenant in Chicago), I remember delightful talks with Nate while holding each newborn as we finalized a name. Although we went into labor and delivery with a list of boy and girl favorites, it didn’t seem right to decide until we got a look at him or her. Then, almost always, the “right” name would pop out of the list.

Part of those naming conversations would always be mulling over possible nicknames, exploring whether or not anything would be intolerable. Now we know there isn’t a name anywhere without nickname potential. More significant was that I gave birth to the most prolific nick-namer ever: Lars.

Even last week at Afterglow, the five grandkids all came away with his “new” names: The Tawny Owl, Mix Master, Nk Chk, Big Time and Sky-Sky.

Several years ago our younger girls gave Nate and I nicknames: Pidge and Midge. I liked mine, but Nate wasn’t as enamored. “Sounds a lot like pidgeon,” he said. Mary and Bevin became Modge and Podge, and one of their daughters Morge. So we are now Midge, Pidge, Modge, Podge and Morge.

Names are important to God. Scripture says he wrote us into the Book of Life from before the world was even made. In his limitless foreknowledge, he knew what people like Nate and I would decide to name each of our children and already had those choices written down. Such a thought is mind-boggling and completely wonderful.

At some future date when God directs that the world is to end, he says we’ll receive new names, each one known only to the person receiving it. (Revelation 2:17) This sounds mysterious, especially because when it happens, he’s going to write it on a white stone as he gives it to us. Maybe these new names are the ones written in his book rather than the names we now have. In any case, Jesus makes it clear, while teaching his followers, that even more important than a name is where it’s written down. Is it in the Book of Life? If it is, it’ll stand strong as a reservation for residence in heaven.

Nate’s name was there, and as a result, so is he.

“Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

Home Again

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It’s always a delight to go away, and always a joy to return home. Our family ranks have thinned after driving most of the day in three vehicles to leave vacation-mentality behind and get back to the routine.

Our England family will spend tonight flying over the Atlantic, crossing back over six time zones to undo what they worked so hard to do last week. Birgitta is back at her university, and our Florida family will leave Friday to fly south. The rest of them will be back at their jobs tomorrow morning, and our vacation will officially be over. All good things must come to an end.

Tonight everyone is tired. Sitting in a car all day (and stopping for greasy meals) brings a feeling of sluggishness. But of course there was unloading, sorting through debris, and the inevitable questions: “Did we unpack the coffee yet? Has anyone seen my camera cord? Where are my keys?”

But extraordinary memories have been made… lots of them. At dinner last night, still in the Northwoods, we recounted a few highlights of our week together. Lots of fishing, including a couple of big ones that got away. Beautiful scenery outside every window. A mirror-like lake, reflecting colorful leaves. Babies, babies, babies! Laughter galore. Simple meals. Good golf. Stimulating conversation. And my favorite, family harmony.

I am bowled over by my children and their winsome ways with each other. What a pleasure to see each tending to the needs of the others. Tasks were shared, and I didn’t witness one incident of friction. How is this possible with 15 people living in close quarters for seven days?

I give the credit to Nate. (1) He originally found Afterglow Lake and established the annual tradition of vacationing in northern Wisconsin. (2) Being there this week evolved only as a result of his death. (3) He was a tireless promoter of family togetherness. (4) His provision for us paid this week’s bills. (5) We “heard” him frequently as we quoted him, retold his stories and shared favorite memories.

As the week went by, over and over again the kids said, “Thanks, Mom, for providing this trip for all of us.”

But the accurate response was, “Papa provided it, not me.”

This week I gave each of the kids a copy of Randy Alcorn’s book HEAVEN, and their readings from it prompted interesting and inviting discussion about Nate’s “vacation” to paradise. Knowing God had that joyous “trip” ready for Nate exactly when he needed it and also has it prepared for the rest of us gets us excited to go.

Heaven will be superior to any earthly vacation imaginable, and we won’t even have to pack for it. Better than that is we won’t have to unpack or do piles of laundry or wonder where everything is at the end of the journey, because there will be no end.

This trip will last forever!

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

Bye Bye Big Bed

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Nate and I had the luxury of sleeping in a king size bed for four years. As all sixty-somethings age, we appreciate a good night’s sleep more and more, because it’s harder and harder to get.

Our king, purchased to celebrate our 60th birthdays, used to be in a downstairs bedroom and was available to more than just Nate and I. Volumes of girl-talk happened on that bed, as well as lounging amongst the giant pillows while watching TV. Sick kids spent their day in it, and Louisa slept there for a week after her painful tonsillectomy. Friends of our kids claimed it was “the world’s most comfy bed.”

Yesterday it got dismantled and moved from our cottage bedroom to the room next door, an Army-style barrack-bedroom decorated, coincidently, in olive drab. Beds fill the floor space for group sleeping when crowds come to town, and the addition of a California king will mean sleeping three more when everyone’s here.

Since Nate died, the big bed has been sleeping only one, and the mattress is beginning to have a Margaret-shaped divot in it.

So Klaus hauled our old double bed up from the basement, and I dug out the well-worn sheets. Once it was set up where the king had been, it seemed small in the room and shouted “Set-back!”

So last night at bedtime, always the low moment of every day, I had a conversation with myself. “If only I didn’t need sleep and could stay up though every night. Better yet, if only night wouldn’t come at all and the sun would never set…”

Today God comforted me with some fresh thoughts: I can look forward to that wish coming true one day, because Scripture describes heaven as having no night and says the Lord will be our light. That means Nate isn’t using a bed in his new home and doesn’t miss either our king size or the double. He gets to stay awake “around the clock” and never has to face a lonely night. All of that was good news to me today.

I’m still bound by day and night, work and sleep. But after I die, as Nate did, after all of us die, we’ll be free of this cycle, one of unnumbered heavenly blessings. Nate didn’t sleep well most nights, although it might have been those 30 cups of coffee he consumed each day. The fact that he’ll never face another night of tossing and turning is a great blessing for him.

But for the rest of us, night time can be riddled with problems: difficulty getting to sleep or staying that way, nightmares, fear of noises or break-ins, feelings of vulnerability and the chronic dilemma of every daytime predicament seeming greater during the night. When nighttime disappears, so will these problems.

I still dread nighttime, but the old double bed gave me a pretty good night’s sleep. And because Nate and I slept in it for 36 years, it felt familiar, like spending the night with an old friend again.

“Night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light.” (Revelation 22:5)