HEAVEN

by Mike Sheldon

Heaven is just around the corner, so near and yet so far,
Longed for - yet - not yet .
Full of expectations - but empty yet of form.
What is the reality?
 
It is the end of the road I weary upon
My goal, my desire,
The place I hurry toward with dragging steps.
Yet what will I find?
Will it even be there?
 
Is it all a dream?
Is it just a blackness - a nothing?
Is it all a cruel deceit?
 
Is God a dream?
Is God a nothing?
Does my God lie?
 
No, He is my friend, I bend towards Him with all my affection.
He is my pleasure, He is my delight.
Shall I then mock God and deny His heaven?
To be with Him is surely my deepest desire,
I delight to know Him in His kingdom.
 
My pleasure will be to see His delight in me.
I am to be fulfilled, to be whole, pure and clean.
I am to be healthy and complete - in Him, in heaven.
 
I delight to imagine, me and Him together
Not dull, no stilted choirs, but long loud parties of fun.
Not boring, no hard pews and long sermons, but excited discoveries and happenings.
Not over my head theology in a foreign language, but straight to my heart with clarity and joy.
I will become a part of God.
 
I delight in what I will become.
I will delight in learning of His ways and His creation.
I will delight in relationships, millions of others to meet and know .
I will delight in work, to be a creator too.
I will delight to worship, my greatest task -
To see, to know, to understand the living God.
     
I will delight in having eyes that see and ears that hear.
I will see the glory of the nations, all that is different from me,
The variety, the exploration, the excitement
 
I will delight in knowing all the others who make up His body,
Relationships with no hidden agendas, pure and holy.
Real people in a real place, oh the joy of becoming complete.
 
I will delight in working with Him.
To see my gifts, that part of Him which is me.
I will build a city, with the beauty of the countryside within it,
Animals, birds, plants and people.
What a happy city it will be.
 
I delight in His presence, then I will come close,
I will touch Him and be a part, no longer alone.
All my senses will come alive, I will wake up.
My flesh will burn away, and my new body will radiate pleasure.
I shall become me.

 1st June 1997

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