Heaven's Here on Earth

The other month I was hanging with my mom and my auntie and something my auntie said stuck with me. She sort of suddenly turned to us and quoted some thing she had seen that day. I can't remember the little phrase, but it basically implied something like, won't it be so wonderful to die and be in heaven? My mom nodded her head and sighed. Yes. And the way she said it . . . she was so completely convinced by it's truth . . . it made me realize something about my auntie's faith. She honestly and truly, down to her very core, believes there is a Heaven run by her God, and that this God is waiting for her somewhere else. And, (the most important bit), that He is saving up all the bliss and happiness and will give it to her there.

As opposed to here.

And that made me look at the way my auntie lives . . . and the way my mom lives. They don't have the panicked burning hunger urgency to make their heaven here. They are contented with the things that make them comfortable. They accept what happiness comes, but they don't seem to demand it. They also accept what hardship comes, because it's all part of Some Guy's plan, and He must know what He's doing. And if they keep in contact with Him, well then He'll throw the party when they die.

And this is REALLY different from how I see it. I don't think there is another step. I think this is it. And I do have a panicky burning hunger urgency to grab at some heaven. Make myself happy now. Do good works here. Surround myself with interesting, loving, uncrazy folks. See what they have to say. I want to keep throwing the party here.

When she said her phrase and I realized the glisten in her eye, my first thoughts were "What a pity. She's blowing her life! She's not kicking the door in! She's being a door mat instead! She should demand better!" But, now I don't think I can judge her so harshly. Come on. She's living a pretty good life.

And isn't that interesting? There are a million ways to see the world, even inside our close family. Billions of little glass jars of belief in which we all bounce. She's just chosen the one that feels true. The one that works for her. And it really doesn't have to be the same as mine.