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Naked People in Heaven
Instant bad mood. I search around for my screaming phone on the floor under my bed. The damn alarm clock continues to scream at the top of its lungs. Slowly gaining control of my sleeping body, I step out of bed, pick up my phone and turn off the alarm. The pain of waking up. In heaven, I will roll over and enjoy the waking up process just as much as snuggling into bed and drifting off to sleep. (That is if we sleep in heaven.)
My world runs about me in fast forward. Honking impatiently at the slow moving car, spending what we don’t have for the newest item that hits the shelves, driving around our children to some place other than home. Why do I join the insanity of the crowd? I do believe in busying oneself with hard work, but that is not what is happening here. We are all consumed with what does not matter.
Now. What we want is now. The admiring stares of those we don’t know. Now. The praise of what drives us around. Now. Winners of the race. Packed pantries to overflowing. Fashonable jewelry on our bodies and extra in the closet. Fancy modern restaurants. Everything that our neighbors have. Our neighbors that we want to be like, not the ones outside of our neighborhood.
But all we think about is now and we laugh at anyone that suggests otherwise.
Ted Turner is famous for a lot of things, one of them is stating what is on his mind. Hey, I can respect that. He likes to chose his words so that other people listen. He doesn’t just fit into the crowd. I respect that also. But I wish that someone would tell him, and a whole lot of the rest of the world, that they are on the wrong train. When Turner quoted, “I’d rather go to hell. Heaven has got to be boring.” I wish someone would have asked him, “What do you want most in life?”….”It will be in heaven.”
Heaven is better than being a billionaire. There is money to spare, Hey, let’s pave these streets with gold. Heaven is better than pornography! THERE WILL BE PERFECT BODIES WALKING AROUND NAKED! And it will be a good thing! No one will be embarrassed! (There will be no sin in heaven. Pornography is a destructive, cruel sin. The point is, naked bodies will be good….and everywhere.) Heaven is better than Hawaii. All the food will be paid in full! Heaven is better than Christmas! That baby Jesus, he will be with us! It doesn’t sound boring to me!
And what will not be in heaven? Babies without mommies. Wheelchairs won’t be needed in heaven, or medicine, or hospitals. There will not be divorce, no one’s heart will be broken. What have you been through? What hurts? What tugs at your heart and makes you cry out, “That is not right!” God will end it. He will make all the wrongs undone and he will wipe away that tear.
“Jesus’ miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we want is coming.” Tim Keller.
So, look at this world. Read the Bible. Take a look at what is good in this world. LORD, FIX MY PRIORITIES! SET MY MIND ON THINGS ETERNAL! Get ready. It is going to be the best party of all of eternity. Don’t throw away your invitation.
Do it ALL and Let it ALL Go
There is so much I want to do and so much to be done. There is a philosophy of “how to be perfect” and a religion of “let it go.” The judgemental wars commence, if your home is clean then you must not have played with your children and if you don’t pack a Pinterest lunch then you must not care about their little body’s health.
LETTING IT GO TURNS INTO ONE MORE THING THAT I HAVE TO GET DONE!
Do I make the bed or have breakfast with the fam? Do we go for a lazy walk around the pond or cut a fruit salad? Will the ironing stack disappear or will the new puzzle be opened? Is it more important to linger at bedtime and cuddle with my daughter or just sit on the couch and be with my husband that has been at work all day? Will the floor get mopped or Shepherding a Child’s Heart be reread?
And I believe the answer is this: YES. Hmmm, rephrased: Do it all, every bit of it. Clarified: Don’t do any of it. Meaning: none of it is important. Spelled out: this is what life is all about.
OK. OK. funny, funny. How do we know what to do and what not to do?
Yes! Spending time with our children playing SORRY or Legos is crucially important but so is having dishes clean for dinner and clothes to put on in the morning.
There are lots of little practical tips: Do it together. Invent cleaning games. Take double the time washing sudsy dishes with your two year old playing in the soap and “helping.” Be together. Do together. Include them in the things you have to do vs the games they want to play. Then they are learning and will soon be able to take over some of the chores.
And there are the facts of life: Work hard! Life is not easy!
But still, HOW, WHY, and WHEN?
And here is what I myself am still trying to learn and apply, the real answer is: LOVE. Make a perfect cookie cutter shaped sandwich and homemade cookies for a school lunch if it is showing love, scrub the floor and wash and iron the clothes to welcome your husband into a restful home, turn off the TV and play Monopoly, learn together, do together, DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR FAMILY AND WHEN YOU GET JUDGEMENTAL EYES FROM THAT FREAKIN PHARISEE, LET IT ALL GO!
Pass Me on the Street
Hello friend of this great blogosphere. Let’s both sip coffee and have a chat here.
I love to read, the land of the possible. Here, in this world, we learn and grow and achieve the impossible.
I’ll give you a hug, we will like and share and smile. But our spirits have secrets hidden all the while.
My mind may not know, but my soul will stop and laugh and greet. As we both go about our business, as you pass me on the street.
No. I think you absolutely definitely shouldn’t. Go for it, not yet.
I want answers. I want to know what to do to be healthy, make money, raise a successful citizen, be a stellar friend, and how clean my house should be!
When I said, “I do.” I really meant I did. But sometimes, more often than I want you to know, I looked more like I didn’t. I was, am, grumpy, rude, self serving, and just plain done. But I loved him. I still do.
And when the nurse laid that 7lb 9oz miracle on my instantly smaller tummy, I cried and smiled and instantly changed, because she was everything, and meaningful, and poetic, and beautiful, and soft as beautiful. But sometimes, more than I want you to know, I get frustrated with a messy room, and stepping on pink Legos, and a sassy attitude. But I love her. I always will, even through the teenage years.
When should I scrub and when should I play? How many cups of milk should I drink in a day? Should I sit on the couch and watch a show with James or read “Bringing Up Girls,” that should have been checked off my reading list six years ago? Should I call up a friend or spend the day at home? Is this the year to save or enjoy? A bush or a floral beside the house? When and how and where? Why?
Daddy, Father God, will you please tell me?
Because it matters completely. I want to do and accomplish. But I have made mistakes. And I hear you whisper that yesterday does not matter. Right here. Right now. This very.
One thing is the objective: accomplish, do, succeed, but the greatest of these is love. Love.
Beautiful Life with Cancer 