The most beautiful place on earth
By David Myers
Where do you
think are the most beautiful places on earth?
I have several
favorites: Inside a darkened movie theater just as previews begin; that perfect
camping spot in the Rockies; gathered at home with loved ones on a wintry
Sunday afternoon; arriving home after a harrowing drive through a storm; the
smell and feel of the church on Sunday morning; plopping down on the couch on a
Saturday night and finding “It Came From Outer Space” on TV. It should be noted
that these are not in any particular order.
• • •
In
the mid-1970s, a documentary focusing on life after death came to my home-town
theater, the
I was 12 years
old in 1975, ripe for a movie about the mysteries of the universe. I can
remember only a few snippets of the movie, among which is the description of
how someone had actually seen a soul rise out of a body at the moment of death.
Wow, really?
They actually saw it?
The movie
introduced to me the weird notion that there were people who sought proof of
the life-after. I didn’t care whether or not the soul left the body like a
little smoke signal (although it was kind of a cool thought). To not
believe in the after-life seemed alien, like licorice flavored ice-cream. It just
didn’t make sense.
What I’ve come
to believe over the years is that at birth we are each given that gentle kiss
from God, that life-giving, welcoming embrace -- that newborn kiss given us by
an excited Father. It’s our soul he is
giving us, that home, home on the range for the Holy Spirit -- the spot God
calls one of the most beautiful places on earth. When we look into each other’s
eyes, we are seeing the landscape of heaven, home to the Holy Spirit who tips
his hat and wishes, “Happy trails! Vaya con
Diós!”
Which is why I
don’t think we have far to travel when we die. Perhaps the door to heaven --
those big pearly gates -- are within us, waiting for us, ready to appear in the
blink of an eye between life and death, the womb through which we are born into
our new life -- as close to us as our mother’s womb once was.
About 10 years
ago a friend of mine died. He had been my reporter for a few years, and when he
died at age 23 in a car wreck, I, for the first time understood what they meant
by “living on in our memory.” It was strange to me how alive he felt. So
vibrant were those feelings that sometimes I wonder if what I and others
experienced were more than mere memories.
I wonder if,
perhaps, those feelings weren’t a bit of a sneak peak into eternal life.
In other words,
do we feel their presence so strongly because this was someone who carries our
affection, our love, into heaven – not off on some ethereal plain a universe
away – but instead right here, so close he or she can hear our whisper even as
they pass through the pearly gates?
I
like to think that heaven is in every direction -- all around us. And that our
souls, having received that kiss from God, are, in a way a part of heaven’s
landscape. I like to think that our loved ones who have died are really and
truly alive within each one of us, so close they can feel the beating of our
hearts, can hear our cries, can pray for us. …
Could
that be why we sometimes feel their presence so strongly, even long after
they’ve died?
When we’re suffering
-- whether you’re battling addiction, dealing with problems at work or at
school, or if you think you’re alone in the world -- perhaps it’s good to
remember that heaven is closer than we think, that the souls of our ancestors,
of all our family and friends who have passed, are not far away, but right
here, right now, praying for us, cheering us on.
When we march
through those pearly gates some day, we’ll receive yet another excited welcome.
We’ll once again be a newborn receiving a welcoming kiss by our excited Father.
Not
that he was ever far away. The soul, after all, is the most beautiful place on
earth, because it is where God resides.