Glimpses Of Heaven

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17

A tiny puddle with great big reflection. 

However ironic, traditions are ever subject to change. They change with age, through circumstance, they are upgraded, degraded, substituted, and sometimes...merely forgotten. From that of my experience with traditions, this is so. But- there is one tradition, a family tradition,  that has only ever brightened in my mind's eye. A myriad of my most fond memories have been born out of this tradition.

For as long as I can remember, year after year my family has gone camping together in Ludington, Michigan around August. Ludington is a beautiful city that is full of life, bright flowers, summer cliches like ice cream shoppes, fudge and taffy stores, and bed & breakfasts, but is loved most of all for hugging the shores of Lake Michigan. (If you haven't visited, I strongly urge you to do so.) Upon entering the city, my favorite thing that I was always sure to take note of growing up, was the drop in temperature as we drove into the heart of Ludington, approaching the beach. Ludington is no California, but it tastes just as sweet, if not sweeter for a Michigander. :)

As for traditions, every good one has small habits engraved within. Completion steps, if you will.

 For us, watching the Sun sink into the horizon and melt into the water from atop the tallest sand dune, the city and all of our troubles to our backs, the sun and all of its precious radiance on our faces, was and still is one of those small, but glorious habits. 

Lake Michigan, 2012

Ludington, 2010 (Mom always says she prefers sunrises over sunsets, for they tend to be the cheerier of the two, but as for the rest of us, we've never seen her up early enough to greet the sun!) :) So, with the sunsets, content we remain. 

For me, that small habit, or step to completing our tradition, is as close to Heaven as this world can muster. There is no greater feeling then being with the ones you love most in the world while looking at an extraordinary view hand painted by the Creator Himself, and feeling for a moment that all is right with your part of the world.

2010

As I sit on the bed in my room, now, and look out over my back yard, I watch the sun sink into the horizon...then blend into the treeline...then disappear completely from view.

Back Yard

 My sunsets each night here pale in comparison, but .....

Every so often, in the process of setting here to shine elsewhere, warm rays poke through a break in the trees, over a cluster of slumbering branches, and onto the back yard.

Every so often, as the sun sets in my part of the world forgotten by time......I see a momentary glimpse of that glorious Ludington sunset, through my bedroom window.   

Every so often, I see a glimpse of Heaven. 

So with my suburban sunsets, I am content. 

Sometimes, I think that God moves the branches with His own hand so that those stubborn setting rays can be seen. He knows I need it; he knows it makes me happy. :)

Similarly, God made man a weekly tradition. He knew the Sabbath would make man happy. He knew, we'd NEED it. 

God gave man the Sabbath for that very purpose; it's a glimpse of Heaven. A piece of arbitrary time meant to be spent with Him in thought, in spirit and body, in praise, in worship, and in complete togetherness.

Spent with nature, too! 

Though, we are not to just be...content. No...for the Sabbath here on earth is only a portion of what God has planned for us. We are to spend our Sabbath days longing for the whole picture...for the whole sunset... for all of eternity with our Creator! We are to spend them studying in His word and in intercession. We are to gather our friends and the ones we love most in the world and join in complete togetherness with the Lord. We are to hold dear those precious rays and glimpses of Heaven until the day we see the whole picture!

Lake Michigan, 2012

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Colossians 1:1-4

2013

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3