One of the most important memories of my childhood is when my cousin John was killed in the Vietnam War. He was twenty. He was the first person I remember going to Heaven. This last year I said goodbye to my husband’s Uncle Bill. He was almost ninety. There have been too many people to count in between, but I learned early in my life that people can die at any time, at any age, and in a variety of ways. To all who have gone before me, I dedicate the following. I hope to see you someday in That Heaven Place.
There is no time or space in Heaven.
Everything was and is and will be
All at once
In some cosmic force of God.
The Earth created.
The Earth destroyed.
Jesus came and died and rose and
He will come again—in Earth time.
Yet He is coming right now and already has
In that cosmic force of God.
What are we, then,
In that cosmic force?
What we face and what we do
Was and is and will be.
Our lives begun and ended already
In the time of Heaven
What matters?
How well we do our jobs?
How well we raise our children?
How well we treat our friends?
How well we fulfill God’s will for us?
Does any of it matter?
I say yes and no. It matters, yet does not.
What we do in this life,
We do for the next life.
So when we lose our jobs, our spouse or children, our friends,
When we fall short of our dreams,
We suffer and we cry, but we do not break.
Because this isn’t the life we are living for.
With Jesus,
We have already survived the hurt and the fear.
Love is that cosmic force of God,
That netherworld of time and space,
That Heaven place.
So what matters in this world is
How well have we loved?
Did we show it to our co-workers, our spouse and children, our friends?
When they didn’t love us,
Did we love them anyway?
Jesus loves us always
Whether we love Him or not.
On this Earth,
He suffered and died for us.
Yet He also prevails.
Love always prevails.
We strive to love as He does,
So that when we leave this Earth,
We join Him
In that Heaven place.