Dear Abby:
I am a middle-aged woman who is a Baptist by faith. I believe that when I die I will go to heaven. My problem is, if going to heaven means being reunited with my parents and other family members, then I don't want to go! The idea of spending eternity with them is more than I can stand, but I don't want to go to hell, either. Any thoughts?
Eternally Confused in Mississippi
Dear Eternally Confused:
Yes. When you reach the pearly gates, talk this over with St. Peter. Perhaps he would be willing to place you in a different wing than the one your parents and other family members are staying in. And in the meantime, discuss this with your minister.
The above letter really did appear in the Dear Abby column this past November. As is. My mom cut the column out and saved it for me. Oh, to be Dear Abby for a day! Or this lady's minister. I hope she did talk with her pastor; and I pray that Jesus would remove the bitterness from her heart and would allow her to value heaven for His sake alone.
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Heaven is such a misunderstood place. I have written several posts trying to figure it out. I can safely say that I have a tenuous relationship with heaven. I want to go there, but it just isn't clicking in my mind. I can picture it, but I don't feel it. I have a pretty picture in my head, but that doesn't do justice to what heaven is.
ReplyDeleteJesus is in heaven. God is in heaven. Of course I want to hang out with God all the time, but what does that look like? What does that feel like? How do I wrap my head around that? I can see a pretty picture and someone might comment that it looks heavenly. Does it? Probably a pale reflection. God created it, so a part of him is in there. But it is here on Earth, so it can't encapsulate heaven. It probably can't even touch it.
I struggle with the reality of heaven. I know it isn't the puffy clouds place of media fame. I know it will be beautiful and have jewels and what not, but that doesn't excite me much. God and Jesus do interest me about heaven. The idea of experiencing them without the constraints of pain and suffering that we find on Earth is interesting. The idea of hanging out with them and other believers is pretty awesome. I get almost excited about the idea of meeting believers who I would never know here on Earth. I guess in the end heaven is about the people and not the place. That makes a smidgen of sense to me, but I know I am missing excitement, so I must be missing something about heaven. As I said, it is a tenuous relationship.