Thoughts on Heaven

Lately I’ve been thinking about heaven. I don’t think it’s an indication that I’ll be there soon, but, then again, it’s early in the week. :)

Growing up I was taught that heaven was made of streets of gold, that there will be no more tears or sorrow and that we’ll be there forever. As an adult, some of that has changed; specifically the streets. Instead of precious metal, I’d much prefer my streets made up of chocolate or peanut butter. I’m confident that tears of sadness will be no more and eternity will be, at least partly, spent by meeting people and looking at the map of how all our lives intersected. But this week, I’ve had brand new thoughts.

I read. A lot. I read, sometimes, two books a week. Nonfiction. Fiction. Mysteries, thrillers and, yes, a little romance. Historical pieces, futuristic stories, endings with loss or hope. This week, it’s a period piece about a woman who struggles to find her place as an artist in a world where women are only allowed to play the piano, sing and sew. I’m also reading both scripture and a commentary on women in the Bible. Women who had to go to great lengths and be willing to sacrifice everything in order to be taken care of because without a husband, their future was grim, if not cut short completely.

Which led me to think about heaven. (I know - I can’t explain how my mind works, but there it is.) I started imagining a heaven in which women could be fully who God created them to be. Which led me to broaden those thoughts. Into everyone. All of us. Artists, leaders, teachers, administrators, writers, athletes - fully operating in the fullness of who we are. Living and existing in a world in which we discover ourselves in all our wholeness. No longer encumbered by lack of opportunity, insecurity, or oppression. To live the life that we were meant to live.

Heaven for me would be spending time with Aaron Sorkin, Neil Simon or Joss Whedon. Listening to how they write and direct and create. Getting their input and encouragement into my own writing. Not being afraid to try, but eager to get started and see what happens.

Or watching someone who has never had the opportunity or encouragement to pick up a paint brush or a basketball or a telescope. Watching for the first time as they discover that this is what they were meant to do. Which opens up the great opportunity for teachers and coaches to live (forever) beyond their wildest dreams.

Leaders, who were once suppressed, being given the opportunity and people to lead. People who were once confined to wheelchairs, or locked in emotional prisons, or who lived before the time of space and high mathematics. All of us going through “those pearly gates," high-fiving St. Peter and, upon entering heaven, shedding everything that once weighed us down. To find, in the blink of an eye, who we truly are and what we were meant to be. And then running, like crazy, to go be it.

God’s ways and thoughts are beyond our own, as scripture so wisely tells us. Heaven is, too. As much as I try to imagine it, I just can't. But this new thought has got my heart beating wildly and my imagination running rampant. Because I think there’s some truth to it. And it’s an exciting future; an eternal future that doesn’t look quite so daunting. A future waiting for me. Hopefully, waiting a long while, at least until the end of the week. :)