One Thing Scares Me About Heaven (And Why It Shouldn’t)
Heaven is going to be awesome.
Golden streets… with no potholes or orange barrels.
No more tears or pain (which probably means that some of my favorite local sports teams either won’t be there or that they’ll just be a lot better).
Reunited with those we’ve lost. I imagine the joy of those first embraces with ones who have left this life before us.
Beauty beyond imagination. Mountains, streams, brilliant skies, rainbows.
Bacon. I’m absolutely certain that there will be bacon. I mean, why wouldn’t there be? Seriously, there will be bacon… right?
At home with my God. No more separation or things pulling my heart from being wholly connected to Him. At peace. Fully loved.
Everything about Heaven gets me excited… except one thing.
Eternity.
Yep. I’m not sure why, but every time I start thinking about what happens after this life, the same thing happens.
I daydream about all the joys of Heaven and how we’ll be able to enjoy them… for…ev…er.
That last part always hangs me up.
I’m good until I think about the fact that there’s no end.
I know it shouldn’t bother me.
I mean, imagining an eternity where my Cleveland Browns won the Heavenly Super Bowl almost every year (come on, if they didn’t lose it every now and then the luster would wear off) seems pretty awesome.
But it’s like my brain tries to open the “eternity” app in my mind and just sits there with the hourglass spinning.
Maybe it’s how we’re wired
When it comes to my fear of eternity, I think it comes down to how we’re wired and what we’ve always known.
Whether we realize it or not, we’re prisoners of the finite. We live by calendars, by what’s “next”, schedules, planners, reminders.
“What’s coming up next week?”
“When is Easter this year?”
“How old are you?”
“Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
Everything we’ve ever known comes down to a reality ruled by the second hand.
Even as you read this, minutes (because you’ve actually been savoring each word, right 🙂 ) okay, precious seconds have gone by you won’t get back.
And even as your eyes jump from word to word, you’re thinking about what’s coming up today, tomorrow, next week.
We’re wired that way. To understand life within the bounds of time.
Trust
I’ve come to realize for me, what it comes down to is trust.
Just like so many other things in life, I believe this is an area where God is asking me to just trust him.
It’s as if He’s saying “I know you don’t understand now, but when I make all things new your mind will instantly switch over and you’ll get it”
If you went back 2000 years and cautioned Jesus’ disciples to not tweet out things on the interwebs they would regret tomorrow, they would just stare back at you.
The number of things you’d have to walk with them through to get them to understand would be mind-blowing (electricity, computers, phones, selfies, Twitter, Kardashians, and on an on).
They just wouldn’t get it. Their minds wouldn’t be able to comprehend.
And I think it’s the same with me and eternity.
I know my mind can’t handle it right now. It just short circuits with “but what happens next?” questions that freeze it up.
And while the concept of an All You Can Enjoy Forever Heaven Buffet sounds amazing, my engineering mind is wired to understand, to open up the box, look behind the curtain. I want to know how it works.
But for now, I know I won’t be able to.
And I’m okay with that… most days.
I can’t wait
All of that being said, I still daydream.
I dream about the day when God will make transormation in my brain.
When the light will come on inside and I will finally get it.
When I will realize I had nothing to be afraid of… and can begin to enjoy what I was truly created for… what all of us were truly created for.
An eternity with a God who created us and has been waiting to restore things to how they were meant to be.
Free of sin, selfishness, pain, hatred, loss, frustration, disappointment, separation.
An eternity to enjoy the pleasures of a new world with the One who loves us most.
I can’t wait.
What about you? Do you ever think about Heaven? Share below in the comments…