What Do You Love?

I read a blog post today admonishing bloggers to write about their passions -- what they truly love. This is good advice. The blogger herself finally discovered her passion:  web designing. (Web designing? Argh!)
So, I asked myself what my passion is -- what do I spend my thought life on, whenever I have the chance? What do I long for? What do I love?
And the answer was, Heaven. The New Earth. But I don't want to write about it too much here, because I'm afraid of turning you off, dear reader, with repetition.
I don't love Heaven because I'm pious or holy or churchy. I love it because life on this Earth is pretty hard and sometimes horrifying. And in my soul I long -- how I long! -- for a place that's not like this. What I want is a place with all of this Earth's beauty and goodness, and none of its ugliness and badness.
Enter:  God.  He's making a place just like that. Yay!! When do I get to go? In just a few years! Yay! How long do I get to stay there?  Forever. Forever. Let that sink in!
What would a perfect Earth look like, to you? Are you a countryside kind of person?

You know, mountains, lakes, meadows, sunsets? (Minus the mosquitoes, danger, exhaustion?)

Maybe you're a city person? Is this beautiful to you?

Is this where you want to be, with all the culture and people and excitement? (Minus the violence, dirt, stink, exhaust and meanness?)

Maybe not a new city -- maybe a gorgeous old city? Yes, please!

Maybe you'd like a few people, but not thousands ... a village? With all the neighborliness, sharing, porch-sitting? (Minus the gossip, selfishness, bickering?)

A cottage. I'd love a cottage. How pleasant gardening will be there!

Because the New Earth that God is making will have all of this. It will be a real, physical Earth, and we will be there, with our real, physical bodies. No floating in midair, strumming harps and wondering what we're gonna do for-e-ver.

Forever. Eternity. Take a minute, rest your brain, and ask yourself this bizarre question:  how would your life be different if you knew that you were never, ever, going to die? If you had forever?

I suggest a few things. We would never hurry. What's the point in hurrying, when you have, literally, all the time in the world? You may live for 1000 years in Italy, followed by 1000 years on Crete, followed by 1000 years investigating the wonders of China, and after all that -- eternity is just beginning. There is no hurry! No rush!

Every job can be done to its very best. No rush jobs. Take 100 years to perfect your favorite skill or craft. Build a ship. Carve a face in a mountain. Master the cello. You will never tire, and there's no ... hurry.

Relationships are forever. There's no anxiety about getting close to someone, only to have them leave you. No fear of death. Death is now behind you, and it's a non-entity! Yippee! Do we even realize how rushed our whole lives are, because we all know we have limited time? Deadlines overwhelm. Pressure to produce. Do this right by next week or you're fired. Hurry up, there's an exam next week. Making bucket lists. All of this hurry, this anxiety for time, will disappear.

Hallelujah! I love to sit and just imagine the New Earth. I don't know for sure what it will be like exactly, but there's enough in Scripture to tell me all of the above. It's my passion.