Is there a heaven? Where is Heaven?
That is a question each individual has to work out for himself. And we would doing a great disservice to ourselves if we didn’t, ignoring it altogether, fooling ourselves into thinking its all fairy dust.
We’re told God is everywhere and knows everything. That He is love. If that’s a great truth it would further make sense that is He is heaven. Stay with me.
But how can we believe that with so much destructive evidence to the contrary? Disaster, heartache and death? To that I would say among our troubled world and horrific problems there is compassion. Each one of us holds compassion for something, someone. Especially during Covid. People, animals, trees. Its easily buried under anger and injustice but its there.
And I believe its those seeds we need to nurture and work with, not the already inflamed. We all know the old adage, whatever we focus on grows. Maybe this is a great model to experiment with.
With compassion, there is love. With love, hope. Now those sound more like characteristics of the heaven I know. And maybe heaven really is no further than our own hearts.
I have heard about the concept that Heaven isn’t a place, but a state of being. Would that mean Hell isn’t a place either then, but a state of being? Interesting. Would that account for so many people going off the deep end with killing rampages? I wonder how that equates to ‘a state of being’ and if that is heaven or hell?
Saint Augustine searched far and wide for God, and if was only when he stopped and looked within that he found Him. So it is with us.
So, if it’s true that we ourselves possess a tiny bit of heaven in the form of compassion, we then have the ability to fan that ember into a roaring fire. Even among this troubled world and its horrific problems. Perhaps more so because of it.
But like anything, it starts small. How about small ingratitudes? Your wife forgot to pick up milk. The guy who cut in front of you. The collegue who got the promotion you worked for. Forget the large injustices our global world face today. What about the tiny injustices in our own bubble? How do we handle those? The answer to that question might be a big clue to our big world today.
Are we ready to do battle in the compound between our own ears and in our own hearts? And if so, are we willing to fan the tiny piece of heaven already there to renew the face of the earth?