My entire family is still processing the death of my 36-year-old niece. Her surviving twin brother is, of course, dealing with more than the rest of us can imagine. It has been more than a month since she passed away but for him, it feels like yesterday.
Whenever someone I love dies, the first thing I think about is whether or not they had accepted Christ. Thankfully, I have not lost anyone who, to my knowledge, rejected the Lord. So I can be sad for my loss but happy for their gain. And it always makes me think about Heaven.
That simple and beautiful song, "Dancing in the Sky" by Dani and Lizzy captures some of my thoughts. I do wonder what my loved ones are doing in Heaven.
When I was thinking about my niece recently, I had to smile because I was thinking that she was seeing everything beautiful. She could be talking with the Lord about what he named the stars. She could be feeling the warmth of God's love shining on her. She really could be dancing in the sky.
In my mind, I imagine that it would take an eternity for us to explore Heaven and never see it all. How wonderful to think that my niece will never again know fear or sadness or tears on her face. When looking for some description of Heaven, Got Questions shares this in part:
The city is filled with the brilliance of costly stones and crystal clear jasper. Heaven has twelve gates (Revelation 21:12) and twelve foundations (Revelation 21:14). The paradise of the Garden of Eden is restored: the river of the water of life flows freely and the tree of life is available once again, yielding fruit monthly with leaves that “heal the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2). However eloquent John was in his description of heaven, the reality of heaven is beyond the ability of finite man to describe (1 Corinthians 2:9).
I emphasized that last part because it is so definitely true. Whenever I find myself dazzled by anything beautiful in this world, I know that everything in Heaven will be infinitely more beautiful. That just overwhelms my mind and makes me so happy.
So, I'm thinking about my niece and my mother and all the other loved ones I have lost. And I am trying to imagine their joy at being with the Lord. Old people use to have a saying that we should mourn coming into this world and rejoice at leaving it. That was meant, of course, for those who put their faith in Jesus. Those people described someone's death as their "homegoing". Not everyone is choosing that destination though. We all need to pray for everyone to spend their eternity with the Lord.
Peace
--Free
No comments:
Post a Comment