When earthly lives end, especially when the person is younger, we tend to focus upon and consider what was lost. We think of lost opportunities - things they won’t be able to see, babies they won’t be able to cradle, and adventures that now must go undiscovered. Our minds create this chasm between earth and heaven that sees the losses of this life as permanent ones, never possible to achieve again. This perception causes many folks to remain stuck in their grief as they ponder all of the missed opportunities and regrets.

This is not resurrection thinking. All of the love that we can give and receive, the joy and elation that can be experienced, the adventures that can be undertaken, and the possibilities to be discovered are all part of a continuous journey. They are not ends in and of themselves but are all part of the unfolding of a relationship we have with God, who not only makes all of these wonderful things possible now but sustains them and fulfills them into eternity.

The perception and experience of loss is really an illusion, because in God’s eternal kingdom and in God’s time, nothing is ever lost.

Even the most intimate and tender of moments we can conceive of sharing with another human being are only part of a journey toward perfect intimate and tender moments to be shared with God in our resurrected life. We become like God and see God as He is in eternity. What greater joy, love, and hope can ever be discovered as we walk down our often dimly lit paths in this world.

This is an awesome wonder and magnificent news to behold. Call to mind someone you have lost in death. How do you see them now? How do you see yourself in heaven? Remind yourself, again, that God is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Our happiness is not going to be fully realized in this world, and there is nothing we can find here that cannot be found one hundred fold in eternity. It’s all about relationship, and not solely about the relationships we have with each other, ourselves, and the world in which we live.

It’s about our relationship with God. If we realize how special that one relationship really is, then there is only one particular of heaven and life eternal that really matters: namely, that we fall into love eternal and discover truth. For when we finally close our eyes in death, then all will be well as long as we are with God. There are no losses, only gains.

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