By Beth M
Recently I have re-read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, book 5 in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. Partly because I love the series and partly because the movie is coming out soon and I need to be prepared to criticize it. You'll be happy to know that I am thoroughly prepared. Once I finished that book I thought, "Hey, why not read books 6 and 7 too?" After all, I've only read them about 37 times each, not like The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe which I know by heart. So I read The Silver Chair and The Last Battle.
It was the last book, The Last Battle, that really spoke to me this time. I've read it tons of times, know the story inside and out, but this time it just somehow meant more. It really got me thinking about heaven and eternity and all that stuff that I believe in but never really think about. It's scary to think of FOREVER, we can't understand it, makes my head hurt to try. I think my way, and maybe lots of others' way of thinking about heaven can be summed up in the Kenny Chesney song "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" the lines of interest being: "don't you want to hear Him call your name when you're standing at the pearly gates? I told him, 'Preacher, yes I do but I hope He don't' call today, I ain't ready!" "here's a ten to help you remember, the next time you've got the good Lord's ear, tell Him I'm coming but there ain't no hurry, I'm having fun down here." "everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to go now" We think of all the fun things we want to do, or are doing, and think that heaven can't measure up!
In my humanness I think, "I hope I live long enough to do this, or go here, or see this. I hope I'm not called home sooner than I want, I'll miss out on so much." I'm afraid of being bored in heaven! But after reading the passages in The Last Battle when Peter and Lucy and Edmund and everyone are through the door, they've said farewell to the Shadowlands, and they are so happy, they can't imagine anything else they'd want to be doing or anywhere else they'd want to be. And reading in The Silver Chair, when Jill and Eustace are on the mountain with Aslan and they see Caspian after he had died, and they hope they too can stay. Reading those words really made me think, "THAT"S what it'll be like when it's my turn to go to heaven." Reading these books gives me just a small glimpse, a small, shadow of a feeling of what I'll feel when I see my Maker face to face. So I've been doing a lot of thinking about heaven these days, wondering about things and not thinking, "Gee, I'd like to live to do this" but thinking how much more I'll have when that time comes.
A man from my church died last night. I didn't know him very well but we spoke every week when I saw him. He used to come chat with me at the sign in table each Sunday morning. He was in a wheelchair, I don't know what exactly his condition was, his legs were not formed correctly, if he would've been able to stand he would've been shorter than my 10 year old son. Been like that his whole life. He died of cancer, he'd fought for months. Every time I saw him he was always so happy, praising the Lord despite his physical condition. I never saw him complain. With the reading I've been doing and the thinking, he is now foremost in my thoughts. I wonder what it's like for him now. When I came home for lunch on Friday and told my son that Jeff had died, he was sad, as we both were, but then I said "You know what, Ben, he can walk now!" The rest of the day at work I thought about what it will be like. Here are just a few of my thoughts:
In heaven…
My grandmother will be able to hear my voice again, something she hasn't heard in more than a decade.
My other grandmother will be pain free all the time.
I will be able to see clearly without the use of contacts or glasses.
My grandfather will be free of worry and fear.
My uncle will be able to move past the hurt.
My son won't bear the emotional and psychological scars his father left him.
I will forgive my father. And my ex-husband.
I will not be alone.
I won't have to hide my feelings to avoid getting hurt.
I will be able to sleep (if we can!) next to a grizzly bear.
I will see the child I lost.
"I can only imagine, what it will be like, when I walk by Your side. I can only imagine what my eyes will see, when Your face is before me. I can only imagine.
Surrounded by glory what will my heart feel? Will I dance for You, Jesus? Or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine.
I can only imagine, when that day comes, and I find myself standing in the sun. I can only imagine when all I will do, is forever, forever worship You. I can only imagine."
-MercyMe
Beth is a gorgeous, size 6 blonde married happily these 20 years to Sean Bean, dreamy British actor. Their perfect children attend a boarding school in Scotland that they take the scarlet train out of King's Cross Station to each term. In her spare time, Beth likes to perform interpretive dance in local parks and raise awareness for S.P.E.W. Sean and Beth also own a German Shepherd named Chauncy who likes to nap. Beth M. and Lara were the brains behind our fun series on the Year of the Birthday. We are thankful they have decided to continue the fun with the Bucket List and Every Day Life.