HEAVEN

By Ms. Dinorah

I love the song Stairway to Heaven. Anytime I hear it, the sound of the music brings me back to God. For, as the apostle Paul would say, “He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms.” Heaven is going to be breathtaking, a place for pure love, pure joy, pure life, with Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles, and Pearl Jam, and many others playing songs in the background. No more barriers in Heaven. No more physical, mental, emotional imperfections. No more fear of the unknown. He will be there! And I am going to be so pretty that he will love to look at me. In Heaven, I may even be the right person for him, or the right angel. One never knows. For now, it is what it is. Sometimes we make progress in one area, say the fruit of the spirit, and yet struggle to cope with the standards of the world. On this side of the lake, or the pond, or the door, or the sea, you will have tribulations but take heart because Jesus (in his love for us) has overcome them all.

So since Heaven awaits us, we can hold on to our faith and enjoy the journey, living with great anticipation. Oh, the power, the beauty of Heaven is so beyond belief that, while climbing our God-given stairway, we have the ability to find endless motivations to “sing for the laughter and for the tear” as our lives unfold. Yes, I am confident we will also have the best of Aerosmith in Heaven –for free. And true, we won’t deserve it. As a matter of fact, we don’t deserve any of the gifts God has freely given us, not his love, not our hopes, not the faculty to sense what is beyond belief, not the people who care about us, not the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and start all over again, to dream again. Could that be one of the ways we intuit that we have been truly blessed? Oftentimes I think how in the world did I have this incredible person as my professor, or my friend, or my brother? How did I get to be in the same family line as my grandparents?

 “God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life,” the apostle Paul said. I say, thank you, Jesus! Thank you for not giving up on me when I thought that having people’s approval was more important than discovering my true self. Thank you for carrying me through the tough times, skin breakouts, physical and soul pains, excessive weight loss, solitude, low self-esteem, pride, despair, resentment, and into the person I will become. Thank you for all the tastes of Heaven, especially the musical ones, that consistently energize me to climb the stairway with you.