If this is how we see heaven, it is no wonder that more and more people commit suicide every year. These people couldn't wait anymore for death to claim them. These people couldn't wait anymore to escape their miserable hell called LIFE, and they want to reach the loving arms of God somewhere up there in Heaven - NOW!

Yet how will it be for those deemed guilty of the sin of taking their own lives? What will become of them? They have forfeited their precious lives on earth, and in doing so, they have entered into eternal doom for the sin they have committed! Is that it?

What is heaven like after all? And why do we desire to get there? If heaven is utmost happiness, and if God had planned to bring us there from the very start, then why do we have to endure the suffering we would all go through in this life? Couldn’t He have just placed us there in heaven with Him from the very beginning?

Of course we can argue on about the story of Eden saying it was Adam and Eve’s fault that people were cast out of paradise. But I believe that the real point of the story on why they were cast away was that they lacked faith in the Almighty God. They did not trust His warnings but relied on the malicious snake instead, that’s pretty little faith, isn’t it?

And so it had always been through man’s journey in time: man traveled in fear and darkness, possesing very little faith with which to claim his inheritance. For without faith, it seems, the chances of reaching heaven is absolutely nil.

I believe that all of our experiences in this life, experiences that mould our virtues and enlighten our minds, help us achieve the faith we need in order to claim our Divine Heritage. For if there is nothing worth gaining in this life, if our fate is merely to reach a heaven that literally exists, where no sorrow or problem would ever afflict us anymore, then what good was it that we had ever been born in this life?

I cannot imagine heaven as a place where we would all just sit around night and day, playing our harps and singing with the angelic choir. I cannot imagine walking on streets of gold, pondering what our life on earth had been over and over until we have nothing to talk about or look forward to anymore. What boredom that will be! Where then is the place for courage, for zeal and for diligence, if we would all end up as indolent spirits anyways?

I think of heaven instead as that sacred point where our soul is able to connect with the Divine, that point in time where our faith starts growing into the size of a mustard seed, a faith still so small, yet already sufficient to move mountains and walk over troubled seas.

Heaven is knowing deep in your soul how you were conceived and how you were bathed in loved. It is tapping unto the endless reserve of mercy and grace when shadows come looming over you. It is knowing that however great the challenges ahead seem to be, there is a Higher Power that will see you through.

It is trusting joyfully the Hand that guides you, and the wisdom that lights your way. It is seeking new horizons and discovering new worlds one after another, where there is so much more to do, to cherrish and to love. It is doing all these things without the fear that cripples us from doing all the things we were destined to be capable of doing.

Heaven is unending bliss, a journey that takes us from glory to glory, from one blessed realm to another, ever expanding in mystery and joy.

Heaven is jumping, and flying, and soaring, knowing whatever it is you may do, there is a Hand that will catch you if you should ever fall.

Heaven is being able to love completely, unselfishly, confidently, strongly, unwavered by any threat of momentary pain or sacrifice. It is believing that darkness is passing, and will never be able to overcome the light.

Heaven is knowing your loved ones are only a thought away, and that the road for home can always be tread without delay.

Heaven is our desires and God’s plans seamlessly intertwined, weaving a marvelous tapestry whose beauty shall never ever die.

What is heaven like? Heaven is at hand, my friend! It is right here in our midst, if only we can believe and remember, if only we can find the one key that opens every door and triggers every miracle - FAITH!

© Jocelyn Soriano for I Take Off The MASK!, 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: heaven, just like heaven, like heaven, what is heaven, what is heaven like

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh