Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am an American through and through. I am proud to live in this country, even if I do not always agree with the direction that it is headed. But I am also Irish – from both sides of my family. My father is a Hollis, and they were either aristocracy or rogues and scoundrels, depending on the year and who was in power in Ireland at the time. And my mother is a Riley, (the “O” was dropped after they came to the country.) I must admit, there is a part of me that desperately wants to spend time in Ireland. I want to meet the people and listen to their lilting brogues. I want to see the rolling green hills. I want to taste the food, and experience Erin in all her glory. I might even find a wee little leprechaun and my very own pot o’ gold. (Wait, I think I need the pot o’ gold BEFORE I go to Ireland!) I have seen beautiful pictures, of course, but my imagination has filled in the blanks, with a little help from the novels I read.

It’s a little harder for me to see myself at the end of this journey. For one thing, I don’t have any pictures. Well, I do have some pictures from high school, but it would be very unrealistic to expect to look like I did back then – 30 years have gone by. And while I think I look OK for a 48 year old – I will never look 18 again. No one has written a description of me at the end of this journey. It is totally my imagination.

There is another place that I have difficulty imagining – HEAVEN. The Bible paints a beautiful picture of the PLACE of heaven – but using earthly words to describe something so far beyond us has to leave something to be desired. There are no photographs to help. It is totally our imagination.

“However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ – the things God has prepared for those who love him…” (I Corinthians 2:9, NIV)

This pretty much tells us that we cannot even begin to imagine what God has in store for us. The HEART of heaven is even more exciting than the physical aspects of heaven. I look forward to that moment when I get to experience heaven in all its magnificence, and I don’t have to imagine any more.