This is My Heaven

Generally I give people due respect when they offer suggestions, advice or direction even if I don’t agree. Sometimes I will give a counter consideration, if it is needed or if I feel misunderstood.

Recently I had the opportunity to share my thoughts with someone I had never met. She walked up to me, handed me a slip of paper and said, “Please read this, it will help you get to heaven”. She continued on for a few moments with phrases I had heard before. But this time something was different. I listened to her. Maybe I felt her sincerity. As I listened to her certainty, I realized I had a certainty, too.

Swept in the spirit of the moment, I said, “I’ve listened to you, now can I have a turn?” And she said, “Yes”. And I said, “The way I see it I am in heaven. This is my heaven”, I said pointing to my heart and then extending my arms to encompass everything. “When I die if there is a heaven as good or better than this, then bring it on, but now, as I live, I am in heaven. And you know, a wise man once said, “The kingdom of heaven is within.”

“Oh”, she said, “well I don’t know what man would have said that”. And I said, “According to Luke*, it was Jesus”. She replied, “Well I don’t know about that…”

And I realized that I did.

I couldn’t have said those words to her had I not felt them. And truth told I don’t always feel them. But in that moment I did. And those moments are growing. Finding heaven within is a worthy pursuit.

This aired on WDRT August 9. “Consider This” airs at 5:30pm CST each Thursday.

You can listen to it being read on Soundcloud

For the quote you can read Luke 17:21