Our Heavenly Goal

As Christians, we are taught that eventually we will get to heaven. It is spoken of in Sunday school songs and bedtime prayers.

As young adults, we sing hymns of reunion with loved ones who have gone before us and the perfect joy of heaven. It sounds wonderful. Then there is reality. We lose loved ones. It is hard to accept they are gone from our earthly lives. Eventually, we might get past our grief and remember that we will one day be reunited.

Then we are faced with our own mortality. This past year I experienced that, and suddenly, those hymns took on a different meaning. I wasn’t ready to leave my loved ones. Realizing I was fortunate to have almost reached seventy, I could only pray for faith, strength, courage and grace to face whatever lay ahead. With love of family and prayers of many, as well as the wonders of modern medicine, my treatments were successful beyond all expectation-a true miracle.

I am more aware my time on earth will end: the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. That is how we get to heaven.

God of miracles, please help me to remember that my time on earth is only the journey to attain my heavenly goal. Amen. — KB