"... Sparkly!"

I love how sunlight dances on water. Those gorgeous beams make thousands of tiny diamonds twinking as far as the eye can see. It's magical.

If you happened to see my post a couple of weeks ago about Vacation Bible School, you'll be aware that I spent the week of June 14 in Round Rock helping at my daughter's church. Our VBS this year was "Rocky Railway." Each day had its own Bible point and verse. On day 4 we got to talk about heaven. The Bible point for that day was "Jesus' power helps us live forever."

This year's program was adapted to be more COVID - conscious, so instead of large groups rotating into a few key stations, we got to have our own class, kind of old-school. It was great. Our Kid-Vid clip for that day featured a young boy who had lost his little brother to cancer. His testimony about the surety of his brother being in heaven with Jesus was so beautiful. Afterward, we had discussion time. One of the questions in the guide was, "What do you think heaven will be like?"

Of all the answers I got, and there were some really great ones, I think my very favorite was this:

"I think heaven will be... sparkly!"

Wow. I love that!!

Fast forward a week, and I'm back home catching up on all the things I let go while up at my daughter's. I hadn't cleaned house, done laundry, dead-headed the roses, weeded the garden, etc. for a couple weeks, and it was time to get cracking. Wednesday was the day... and, man, WAS it a day!

After working in the yard all morning it was time to tackle the laundry. Sheets and towels are always on the agenda, but I also wanted to wash our quilt and a summer blanket that would be trading spaces now that it's getting much hotter. Well, sometimes our top loader washing machine can be finicky. It washes just fine, but when it gets to that last drain/spin cycle it won't drain... it just "hums."

I looked online and found a quick fix to reset the machine. You have to unplug it for 2 minutes, plug it back in, then raise and lower the lid 12 times in 6 seconds, let a minute go by, then re-start.

It worked!

Sort of...

I kid you not, I had to go through that process no less than 8 times that day. When it wouldn't work with a tub-ful of wet (and heavy!) quilts and blankets, I had to try my best to wring them out by hand and haul the soaking wet contents to the line until I could get the washer going again.

Needless to say, by the end of the day I was a hot mess... literally!!

A shower never sounded so good! As I stood there letting the water wash over me, feeling more refreshed and revived by the minute, I thought about heaven... about how it will be the ultimate refreshment, the ultimate revival.

The older I get, the more I think about heaven. I'm not being morbid, just realistic. My jouney is closer to being done than it was sixty years ago, and that doesn't make me sad. Quite the contrary.

Life here is full of struggle, full of pain, sickness, sadness. There are days like Wednesday that aren't bad, really, just annoying... kind of like a splinter under your skin. But, there are also days that are profoundly dark and discouraging, and during those times, I tell you the truth, I'm ready for me some "sparkly!"

Light.

Water.

There is something magical about them both. Through the waters of birth we come into the world. Through Baptism we are washed clean, adopted, made heirs of heaven.

And,

when we die, we cross the last obstacle, the river of death... and come out victorious on the other side.

The thought of those waters doesn't scare me one bit, because a thousand points of light dancing across the surface will beckon me, calling me home, emanating from the perfect light source, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Light.

Water.

Yes, sweet kids, I think heaven will definitely be...

sparkly,

and what a magical sight it will be!