Today, as I was working, the face of a friend who left this earth too soon crossed my mind. It was not an unusual occurrence; it is something that happens almost every day. He was that kind of friend who let me vent, laughed and said to get over it. My first thought was how much he is missed and how I wish he was still here. Then "Give Me Jesus" came on my Pandora. This is one of my favorite songs and one that I have already made someone promise that she would sing it at my funeral. And it is in the last verse that my thoughts on my friend altered. The verse says "When I come to die, Give me Jesus."
Oh, how wonderful that will be. That moment we leave this earth and Jesus takes us by the hand to take us home. So then my thoughts of my friend were that he would never want to leave Heaven to come back to earth. And since we are told in Revelation 21: 4--“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain..." I know that he doesn't miss us. He doesn't miss the pain of illness, the sorrow of loss, or the frustrations of this world. He is perfect as God is perfect.
Anytime thoughts of Heaven float through my consciousness all I can think of is that I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to sit a the feet of Jesus. To walk the golden street. To finally be able to sing perfectly on key and in harmony. And of course to see Momma and Daddy and the rest of my family and friends waiting for me there. This dear friend will be there. He will probably laugh and start telling me all the best parts of being there. And that will be wonderful, marvelous, beyond anything we can describe.
So, I made the decision to not allow tears of sorrow to flow but to smile thinking about good times. I decided to focus on the joy ahead; not the sadness I feel now. I decided just to wait until its my turn. To wait until I can say with all sincerity Oh, What a Morning!
