Thoughts on Heaven

     When I was a kid there were expressions adults would use and sadly are often repeated today that are exaggerations that kids know are filled with hot air. 'Do as I say or I'll never let you watch TV again' is so filled with hot air it is the antithesis of assertive discipline. Kids know that isn't going to happen. How about 'holding your nose to the grindstone'?  I am sure your parents or someone had a few expressions you could relay that made no sense. As we get older we know the real intent of such statements even if we might repeat them to our own kids knowing they are false.

         But we do learn that they are not to be taken literally. How about stuff in Scripture? Do we understand the real meaning and intent?  Astoundingly there are people out there, a fairly large number of people that still think the Earth is flat. Holy crap!  And then there is Heaven. Our Father in Heaven.  I have little patience myself for people that still view Heaven the way a child does after reading the Bible. No, we do not live in a dome and God is not in some lush velour throne in a physical place with people ( souls) ) lined up before him. We use our imagination and words to relay a story of truth but not necessarily literal truth.

       So what is Heaven then? It seems to me it is more than a singular location. It seems to me that if it is anything it is more than a singular location meeting all our worldly desires run rampant. It may seem appealing and easy on our mind but it is not logical or perhaps even reasonable.

        I view heaven as a reuniting of our souls with our Creator, perhaps a state of bliss and love we are not quite capable of attaining in this Earthly realm within our physical state. But the truth is we can catch glimpses of it and that is one of the ways we know of it's existence. We can in fact get more than a glimpse. We can see large pieces of it, experience it wholesale by our actions and cooperation with our nature. Our relationships can portend what heaven is like. How many countless songs portray this? How many times have we been in love that brings our physical and spiritual aspects into the realm of a higher unearthly union?  

        The difficulty with an unseen truth is that it is easy to accept some written dogmatic concept as reality than to live with uncertainty. I'd say it is easy to live with the certainty of it's goodness even if we do not know the fine details yet. Is that faith? Can we mature enough to know experientially that Heaven is not up in a cloud or in outer space but  know it exists in some way that we simply do not fully understand yet?  I do know that heaven exists and I do know that God gives glimpses of heaven in how we live and love. That I am certain of. It is our destiny, that I am also certain of.

        What are your ideas about Heaven and where God resides?

Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name. 

Your kingdom come.
   Your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our debts,
     as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
     but rescue us from the evil one.