Reflecting On Heaven

“But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.”                                                                         Philippians 3:20

My heart felt his pain.  I stood at a distance as he walked to the casket where his wife of 72 years lay.  His eyes wet with tears and barely able to speak, he spoke – “Hello, beautiful.”  The picture of heartache.  I once stood there, looking into the casket of my husband and spoke, “Hi Honey.”  My tears flowed and my heart felt the intense pain.  That first look into the casket makes death become real.  You hope to see a breath and touch a warm hand, but the hand is cold and the body still.  It is just a vessel where the spirit no longer resides.  You have the hope of seeing your loved one again and trust that Heaven is real.  You hear the words, “She looks
beautiful.”  “He is no longer in pain.”  Words that are true but do not help the hurt and pain of the loss.  Not everyone has this opportunity to see the body before burial because some are cremated and for some the body has become unrecognizable because of trauma.

I find comfort in trusting Heaven is real and hold onto the promises of Scripture. I have been thinking a lot about heaven lately.  As I talked with my dear friend’s family, we all knew without a doubt that she was in Heaven because of her commitment to Jesus as her Lord and Savior.  I began to think about her singing with the angels and her reunion with her parents and sisters.  Before my husband, Dave, died he saw heaven and described the peace and beauty of it.  It is a real place to me.  Jesus promises the disciples and you and me that he goes to prepare a place for us – a room or a mansion as some versions of the Bible describe. We will have an actual place and a new body that will never die or suffer.  My dear friend, Nancy, said that she wanted a mansion without a kitchen because she never wanted to cook again!

Heaven is not a scary place to me but a place where I know so many people that I love.  To me, Heaven is filled with love because of all the people I love who are waiting there for me.  The one who loves me the most, God, will one day welcome me home to live with Him forever. Warren Hanson wrote the book, “The Next Place” which describes Heaven as just our next place.  This is very comforting to me.  Heaven is just the next place we go.  We close our eyes here on earth and open them in Heaven.  We take our last breath here, and our next breath in Heaven. 

Guy Penrod sings the song – “Knowing What I Know About Heaven.”  Some of the words of the song are –

“Just as happy as they were to see you come,

I was just as sad to watch you go.

Knowing what I know about heaven - believing you are all the way home.

Knowing you are somewhere better.”

In our grief, Heaven gives us hope.  Hope that our loved one is healed and whole again and reunited with those they love.  But the sadness of letting go remains in our grief.  We are happy for them, but sad for us.  We had to let go so that they could be healed and with Jesus.  Our preference is that they remain with us, but we also want them not to suffer.  It is difficult to be happy that someone we love is not with us.  The happiness of Heaven is different than happiness on earth.   It is a reminder that earth is not our home, but Heaven is.  We long for Heaven but are called to remain on earth until our purpose and life is complete.