What will heaven be like?

Of all the animals that left the ark, only eight could understand the concept of a future, a tomorrow.  Those eight animals were Noah and his kin.

I have wondered if any animal has the mental power to envision its future. It appears that animals move steadily forward one day at a time, doing what is natural for them and mindlessly expecting it to be enough. Kind of a built-in default “faith in the Creator.” It’s what humans would be like if God had not given them His image.

Seldom, if ever, are human visions of the future accurate, but still, they are a vision nonetheless. It could be a dread of anticipated doom or anticipated delight. We all spend time wading into the maybes or hopefuls in the dawning of a new day. In our darker moods, we might anticipate the moon falling on our new car or chiggers infesting our underwear drawer, or some other great malady. Those anticipations make life more lively or more discouraging. They are motivational for us; elevated expectations make us work harder. But, on the other hand, our more subterranean expectations can fill our nights with haunting trepidation and our days with wariness.

While pondering for a future blog on prayer, I began to wonder if our pre-afterlife prayers will have any impact on our future life in heaven.  I wonder what heaven will be like.

Here is a partial harvest of the first crop of my speculations on what I anticipate my afterlife will be like.

All my projections into the afterlife begin with my physical location at the beginning of my fore-looking. So, as I am currently sitting in the cool of an early August morning in the front porch swing of our home, that’s where my vision of heaven begins.

I anticipate heaven being small gatherings of saints sitting in wicker rockers, lounges, chairs, and swings chatting. They have coffee and a box of Krispy Kream donuts, no two boxes…each! The porch is wide and long. Between the columns along the outer porch edge hangs giant cascading ferns. A family of hummingbirds darts about the bright red, white, yellow, and blue flowers filling elevated planters on the front edges of the porch. A large evergreen spires up just off the corner of the porch. A myriad of birds joyously chirps and sing among the surrounding edge of the hardwood forest. Best of all is a super comfy throne of a rocker with a colorful thick patchwork quilt hanging over its back to comfort the one sitting in it, Jesus.

If you were to listen to the conversation, the first thing you would notice is that there is a lot of ooohing and ahhhing, spotted with bolts of outrageous laughter. The second thing noticed is the language with which they communicate. It is difficult to tell what language it is; maybe it’s all the languages, each person speaking and hearing in their native tongue what is said.

The group’s body language is also revealing.  As each saint relays their time-story, the listeners lean into the storyteller’s words. The tellers use grand gestures and facial expressions to convey their one-of-a-kind story. I feel an amazing saturation of full-body awe as my vision reveals Jesus fully engaged in listening to the time-stories of those around Him.

I am reminded of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta’s “Summer Nights” duet from Grease at this point in my vision. Not the whole song, just the background singers, “Tell me more. Tell me more.”

I know this is only my mind having fun, delighting in my mysterious future. As heavenly tasting as Krispy Kream donuts are, likely there won’t be any in heaven. So instead, it will be Jan’s homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh peaches or strawberries. If she has her preference, it would likely be something chocolate, a milkshake perhaps.

It’s time for me to move on to the more labor-intensive activities of the day. 

Enjoy your day. You’ll be talking about it when you’re sitting on the front porch, fully realizing how special you have been to God each of your days.  Jesus will give you his indivisible attention as you recount your moment in time story.  After all, he wrote it and is directing at this very moment.

Photo – Our moon over The Gulf of Mexico near Miramar Beach, FL.