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I had a frank discussion with God this week.
I told Him that the heaven described in the bible is not a very appealing one to me. I have never particulaly been a lover of all that shines and sparkles. I prefer low key, natural environments where my soul has time to breathe, to pursue the unseen. I have an intrinsic need for open space. I also told him that His character, as I am growing to know Him, somehow does not fit the extravagant picture either.
When I speak honestly like this, I always wait in silent anticipation for the answer. He took four days to respond.
Day 1: Expectations and Music
Along the shoreline, whilst driving up a long hill Carolyn Arends sings to me about "Reaching". The heaven I grasp in human terms is not actually the heaven that awaits me. It will far exceed my expectations. The longing inside of me is simply the start of the never ending beginning.
Day 2: Priestly Wisdom
Calvin is studying Revelation and in the middle of his study last weekend he stopped mid sentence and said to me: "Do you know that there will be no light or temple in the New Jerusalem?" I had read this before but it had never really hit home as to why. God himself will be the light and the temple. God has light... mmm. A thought larger than light itself to comprehend.
Day 3: Letters from Friends
Words about Moses not being allowed into the Promised Land. Questions about doors shutting and big capital letters: "NO". God closed that particular door on Moses but the book of Jude tells me that the angels and evil forces struggled over his body. The angels won the struggle and took him home. Home is not the Promised Land. Its one step up in fact.
Day 4: Smell
I walk towards the meeting. The rise in temperature speaks to me of spring. The sweet smell of cotton candy drifts towards me and swirls about my hair. Surprised, I look for its origin but can see nothing out of the ordinary. The fragrance lingers. If His company becomes heaven on earth to me, then the change between here and the everlasting will simply be a change of location, not company.
{Over at High Calling Blogs I am writing about the brown shoes that I simply cannot bring myself to throw away. I am also sharing all the photos from the PhotoPlay challenge. I was surprised at how each person interpreted the prompt in such a different way. The photo used for this post is part of my 365 project.}
10 comments:
Oh, how lovely are His ways! I especially love your thoughts on Smell :) I'm a very scent focused kind of gal. God has used aroma to announce His presence for me many times. Not always pleasantly. But cotton candy is good.
Bless you for listening, Claire. The photos linked to at HCB are stunning.
Claire, I'm with you on heaven, though I blame the church more than the Bible. True, the Bible mentions sparklies. But the church is the one that came up with the white robes and the harps and the cloud nonsense. At least, that's my impression.
I figure heaven is the garden in the city. The world has two great models of that--New York City with Central Park and London with Hyde Park.
Imagine those two cities with all of their culture and excitement and wonder--but without the trash and crime and other uglies.
Heaven. :)
some very insightful revelations in this frank discussion with God ... He hears
I love the Day 4...
And what is it? A bracelet?
Blessings.
Hi, I am from Australia.
Please find a completely different Illuminated Understanding of The Divine Reality via these references.
www.dabase.org/dht7.htm
www.dabase.org/Divhscrt.htm
www.dabase.org/restacr.htm
www.dabase.org/happytxt.htm
I loved this post. I was brought up in a very religious household but my idea of God is much more low key and relaxed than what I was taught. I think God is pure love and understanding, I don't believe at all in a harsh judgemental God. It's interesting how in so many ways we all find our own version of God and heaven, the one that best suits our personality. I just saw your photos over at curator and thought they were wonderful too.
Anonymous, I have taken a brief look at your website as referenced above.
Throughout my spiritual journey, I have taken time to explore different religions and faith systems. The New Age journey is one that I have also studied in depth. I see various elements from different religous backgrounds in the website that you reference.
I have openly and honestly looked for answers to the questions that are important to my existence and after life in all these groups.
God, the God of both the old and new testament scriptures is the only one able to conclusively answer all the questions that I pose.
I do however know that this God that I have come to love, loves each and every one of His children with an everlasting love. His children include every person that has ever been on this earth, born and unborn.
Therefore I understand "that it takes a whole world to understand a whole God", in Eugene H Peterson's words.
Thank you for sharing this link with me.
Kerri, thank you for your compliment and also for stopping over.
The God I have come to love with all of me is both justice and love. I therefore understand judgement to be a necessary act within the greater act of love.
The book of Hebrews and the old testament sanctuary teach me that He is witness, mediator,judge and advocate on my behalf. His blood covers me and therefore the judgement neither scares or worries me. My Salvation is completely secure within Him. A negative sentence comes to the fore when I choose not to spend eternity with Him. This selfless act of freedom of choice on His part is also pure love.He forces no one to love Him.
This is my understanding and therefore, I completely agree with you... He is pure understanding and pure love.
..although i did not set foot in His house driving many miles was a visual church service for me ...
in each tree I witnessed his strength..my thought of a heaven filled with mighty oaks...
I had a very vivid heaven dream (?) when I was 7, during one of many dark periods in my life. You would have liked what I saw.
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