Heaven on earth.

Luke 13:18-21

          What is heaven like?  I have heard so many analogies in my lifetime. Some seem comical. Some make it an exclusive club open only to the best of Roman Catholics and no one else. Heaven has even been described as this earthly life we live. Since no one has really come back to explain it all, aside from lurid jokes or soothsayers, I have no problem putting in my own two cents worth.

          I like the idea of a heaven where everyone has a cozy home and garage big enough for a stable of the cars you've always wanted.  I like the idea once put forth that heaven has no speed limits. I also like the New Yorkeresque vision portrayed by a white haired God driving a classic motorcar at high speed, His beard flowing back in the wind. 

          There is also the vision of heaven on earth. I believe I can see that clearly from my vantage point in life. Although I have seen my share of sorrow and loved ones who have departed, I am graced with a most wonderful life. A husband who is the most wonderful man in the world, the love of a cherished cat, wonderful 'children',  joyous grandsons and family. Just a truly wonderful life.  But just as it is, it seems to me it might be likened more to a good crusty bread, warm from the oven. What of the leavening that this passage speaks of?  I think it refers to the idea that I am not an isolated world of my spouse and immediate family. We are all brothers and sisters here. No matter how glorious my life is and how wonderful my immediate family is, I am called (we are all called) to reach out and expand the love that is in our hearts and that is in those families.  It is a virus of the most positive variety where we 'infect' each other and the entire world with love and peace. Heaven here on earth.

            I can imagine, with props to John Lennon, a life filled with love. I can imagine a world filled with love. A world where all peoples have respect for each other no matter where they have come from or who they are. Where I can walk down a street lovingly, hand in hand with my husband just as freely as any straight couple does without any thought except the love in their hearts. I imagine a world where there is health and well being for everyone. I imagine a world where hatred is gone and the word itself falls from the dictionary because no one knows what it means, it has no reference in society.  I imagine a world where we walk with the animals like Dr. Doolittle or St. Francis. Where animals are looked at as fellow travellers and not a meal.

            Heaven on earth? If we wish it so. If we love and if we choose to spread our love and not let it be contained. Let the yeast rise. Let the love rise. Heaven on earth.

He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’