Heaven On Earth

     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!