Thursday, November 04, 2004

If I'm Heavenward-Bound, Why Aren't I Packed Yet?

Next week I’m going on a cruise for work. Seriously. Believe me, there will be a great deal of actual work involved—I won’t be laying around the pool. At least not the entire time. I know, I know, you feel for me. I can hear the violins tuning up now…

It’s been so busy here at work that I haven’t really had a chance to think about the cruise, much less get excited about it. I have a thick stack of documents to read through advising me about what to pack, what ID to bring, etc. that I haven’t had a chance to read. I’ve known for a couple of years now that I’m going on this cruise, but it really hasn’t sunk in (no pun intended).

At least not until yesterday. Yesterday I received my travel documents and confirmation that I am indeed cruisin’. Now that I have living proof on both paper and computer screen that I’m a registered passenger on board, it’s starting to seem more real, and I’m getting a little more excited. I'm finally thinking about what to pack, how much spending money to bring, etc.

How similar that is to my thoughts about Heaven. I know I’m going there, but some days I get so bogged down on earthly matters that I don’t give Heaven a second thought. It’s kind of like some distant retirement village that I’ll move to a long time from now. It’s in the back of my mind, but rarely the forefront. Why is that? If I had some slip in the mail that had a Heaven confirmation number with my name next to it, would I start to get more excited about where I’ll spend eternity?

How can we be more Heaven-focused when the here and now tends to crowd out thoughts of the eternal?

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