Wednesday, December 19, 2012

God's Bedtime Story

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'” Matthew 19:14.

There is so much speculation as to the last minutes for those sweet children in their classroom last Friday.  Our earthly flesh convinces us that there was horror and fear in their hearts, but in considering how gracious God is and how much He loves His children, I am convinced something much different occurred.  Father God is the One who created our emotions, our imaginations and our intellect, not to mention the entire world and everything in it.  I am convinced that our loving Father had those children in another place as chaos reigned that day in the classroom.  I feel that through His kindness and love He transported those babies into a spiritual realm during that attack.  A while back, I wrote an excerpt regarding my sister's last days on earth.  As we saw decreasing vitals and impending heartache, she was experiencing Heaven.  There is no doubt that what we were seeing outwardly she was experiencing something more wonderful inwardly.  In the spirit of these precious children now romping through the fields of heaven, I share with you my take on what Beth was experiencing while our hearts were breaking.  I feel that God sheltered those little ones during their last moments in a way that we cannot comprehend here on earth. 

"It was my sister’s birthday, and I had gone to our local Michaels to figure out what to get her.  Beth had always been very creative and was a good artist, so I wanted to remind her of a kinder time…a time when her biggest quandary was whether to use cobalt blue or dramatic violet to swipe across the canvas… a time when we weren’t living in an hourglass.  As I was walking around the store I came upon some beautiful decorative storage boxes….Bingo!  I would fill the box with sketch paper, bright charcoals, pens, colored pencils and paper so whenever she felt like it, she could reach for something she loved…something inspiring.

Little did I know it would end up being the resting place for her Bible and a book on Heaven.  The hope of beautifully colored images on the sketchpad was replaced with beautifully written pages preparing her for moving in with Jesus.  Instead of creating pictures from nothing, Heaven was being shown to her through the pages of the book.  The 20 Truths of Heaven became the book from which each of us would take turns reading.  She would lay there in her hospice bed asking for another chapter as if a little girl waiting for a bedtime story.  But this was a story for all times – a fairy tale that was going to come true.  This was a story of a great King whose main motivation was to build a kingdom for His family… a Father who strolled the streets of gold preparing mansions for His children.  With her eyes closed as we read, she probably imagined herself as an ant at the entrance of the pearly gates as we described them.  Dare she go in?  Dare she make the final move to exit this world and enter into the final rest of God?  As we were inhaling the smells of the facility, she was actually smelling the fragrances of Heaven?  As we heard the beeping of machines and the rushing of nurses by our door, she was hearing the harmony of the angels.  With each reading, were the words painting a safer image of her home to come?  I can only imagine the interpretation of the reading that God was placing in her heart.  As we read, we saw black and white in print with nurses buzzing in and out of her room watching her ebbing numbers.  But as she laid there listening to our reading, she saw a life colored with eternity and drawn with perfection. 

God took His time in winning her over to going home, not to overwhelm or frighten her.  After all, she was giving up everything in this life.  Through these chapters they must have walked together hand in hand from one place of Heaven to another as He explained that He was ready to give her everything…this mansion surrounded by that beautiful garden.  ‘She discovers the intricacies of His touches in a place that words could never describe…colors never seen as vibrant…music never heard as divine.  Her Father thought of everything, she feels so fortunate to be in His kingdom.  She hears something that stirs her…awakens her…startles her…“Time for meds sleepy girl.”  The nurse stands over her, joking with her and poking…more needles…the bedtime story must be continued another day.  And, she flashes that million dollar smile one more time on earth as we assume she has just awakened from another nap.  But she and her Father share a secret to whom no one else is privy – the secret of a fairy tale that is about to come true.'
 
 

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