The smell of
fresh roasted coffee fills my senses as I step outside and settle into my
favorite glider beneath my “Friendly Shade.”
The house has been cleaned and its fresh scent, along with the fragrant aroma
of my coffee, leaves me with a rejuvenating feeling.
As I take my first sip of coffee, the
freshly mowed, lush carpet of green grass fills my vision. The trees have all leafed out from their long
winter sleep, and the flowers have begun to bloom. In fact, the rose bush, that came from a
rooting which was my Mother’s favorite, is covered in beautiful yellow
roses.
Not only are my
eyes filled with the beauty that surrounds me but I hear the chirping of the
birds as they descend upon the just-filled feeder hanging from the pole
nearby. They feed for a while then
ascend into the treetops and then flutter away only to return and repeat the
same routine. There is just something
about the diversity of chirping in the air that adds a peace to the atmosphere which surrounds me. A hummingbird hovers
nearby sipping sugar water placed there just for him.
Then, as silence
fills my ears, I hear a rustling sound, and a squirrel scampers across a tree
limb and down the trunk of a tree to examine the ground underneath the bird
feeder. As I sat and watch the squirrel
feeding I hear another distant and remote sound. I quickly turn my head toward the sound and watch
as a deer eases out of the forest beyond my “Friendly Shade.” I sat there silently and unmoving, knowing
that any motion on my part will send the deer hurrying back into the woods from
where he came.
I think, “This is heaven on earth.”
Just as quickly
as that thought enters my head, the hummingbirds, which I love to watch sipping
from their feeders, charge each other, and one zooms past my head. I duck!
As I upright myself, a beautiful bright-colored bluebird flies across my
deck and lands on a patio chair and poops all over the porch, and then it poops
again on the cushion in the chair. A
drop of rain begins to fall and then another.
“Oh, no! That means the grass will have to be mowed
again much sooner than I had planned. I glance back from “My Friendly Shade” and
watch as a squirrel busies himself digging into my pot of flowers. He is either storing food or seeking food he
has already stored, but, in either case, he is demolishing the root system of my
flowers. I frown, grab my coffee, and
take a sip. “Yuk!” It has already turned
cold, so I rush back into the house. As
I open the door I look toward my once clean kitchen expecting the lavender pine-sol floor-mopped scent, mixed with my Crème Brulee oil from my Sentsy, to meet me
at the door. “Who turned off my Sentsy?”
I ask? Then, “Who
turned off my accent lamps?” I then see
that mail has been tossed across a third of the countertop. A dirty plate, once filled with a mixture of
jelly and peanut butter, has been carelessly left in the sink just waiting for
its remnants to harden and dry. A half-filled
glass of buttermilk sits nearby. I look
down as I step further into my newly cleaned house; there is a trail of dirt
leading across the kitchen floor into the next room onto my recently vacuumed
carpet. Disgrumbled, I start to fill my
coffee cup, but, miraculously, the last of the coffee had already disappeared.
The pot was turned off. "Grrrr!" I began to pick
up the newspaper that had been separated into a dozen parts and proceed to read
the front page. The headlines read, “Murder
on Main Street.”
“What just
happened to my “Heaven on earth?”
I can only
imagine the beauty God has in store for me.
His plan will not be temporary! There
will be a lush valley of green grass, and it will not need mowing; it will not
need watering to prevent it from dying.
There will be beautiful birds of every color and kind, but there will
not be bird poop left in unwanted places.
You probably thought I was going to say, “There will not be husbands to
clean up after,” but I better not go there.
I will just suffice to say, “There will not be houses to clean only
followed by a constant repeat of clutter.”
Did I mention whether there would be husbands in heaven? (On a lighter, friendlier note, in case a close, household male someone reads this blog, let me remind everyone this is simply a play on words. :)
There will be no
evil, lies, murders, or anger at those who disrupt my “heaven on earth.” How do I know this? In Revelations 21:27 we are told, “And there
shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s
book of life.”
I can only begin
to imagine!
Revelations
“Behold, he
cometh with clouds: and every eye shall see him…(1:7)”
“And he that sat was to look upon like a
jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in
sight like unto an emerald.” (4:3)
“And I saw
another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow
was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars
of fire:” 10:1
“And he carried
me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great
city the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of
God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper
stone, clear as crystal;…And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and
the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all
manner of precious stones. The first foundation
was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth,
beryl; the ninth, a topoz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth;
the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve
gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street
of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in
it: for the glory of God did lighten it,
and the Lamb is the light thereof. (21: 10-12a,18-23)
I can only
imagine!
