When I was little, (we’re talking probably infant/junior school age) the idea of heaven used to totally freak me out. I’ll be honest, it still does from time to time (or even most of the time?!). I literally used to sit up at night crying and calling for my mum because I just could not comprehend the idea that heaven went on for-ev-er, like, has no end, just keeps going and going, and then, when you think it might just be about time to come to an end, there’s another day! It’s definitely a thought that can consume your mind if you let it!
When I was a little older, I got massively into the C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia”. Each night I used to listen to one side of a cassette tape (which I should add, came in a lovely little cardboard wardrobe!). Each book was two tapes and there are seven books, so every 28 days I listened to the stories again, and got to know them pretty well!
#spoileralert: In “The Last Battle”, which is the last book in the series, we end up in Aslan’s Country, which maps to Heaven in “our world”. The last two paragraphs are incredible and moving:
“There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are–as you used to call it in the Shadowlands–dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
Most memorably, I remember a man coming to Bath CU to speak, and as he read this to us, he was choking back tears. I’m fairly sure that if I were to attempt it aloud then I would too.
The story was referenced again at church on Sunday, so I came home, picked up the book and read it through again, it’s lovely.
The idea of heaven can be scary, but actually, the bible tells us it’s gonna be pretty incredible. There’s an amazing description of it in Revelation 21. I’d paste it here except it’s pretty long! But one of my favourite bit’s is when it tells us there’ll be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain”.
And the *really* good news is that God has prepared a place there for each of us!
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