Heaven

Jesus, the loving Shepherd

Growing up in the Catholic Church I was always surrounded by pictures of Jesus and for the most part I found them very reassuring.
Being an animal lover from my very earliest memory made this picture of Jesus loving the little lamb  always my favorite.  I had heard and understood the story of the good shepherd leaving his flock of 99 to search for the missing 1 early in my childhood and it left me feeling safe and cared for.  I also had a very sweet Grandmother who lived with us until I was ten and she loved to make Bible stories come alive. She had a French Canadian background and always spoke Jesus in French which sounds so sweet and endearing.
So the thought of Heaven being some awesome family farm in the country where a very kind French Jesus tends to all the animals is the sweet picture I had for most of my young life.

Laughing Jesus!

I love to laugh.  Some of my best memories are of times where I laughed till I cried at a story being told by someone in my family, we all love to laugh.  I know my Mom taught me how to see the humor in life, she would just look at me and raise an eyebrow in a questioning kind of way and I would crack up, then we would both crack up and oh how good it would feel to just let the endorphins flow.  We laugh a lot at this house, it's probably the biggest thing our in-law children have had to get used to, hardly a dinner goes by without some old (or new) funny story, usually about a sibling, coming to light then it happens, loud, head tossing, knee slapping laughter.  Nothing is better.
I like to think about Jesus laughing, sitting around a fire with is dearest friends and telling some funny story, (did you see that Pharisee trip over his robe today?) and everybody laughing until the tears rolled.  Sometimes you just have to laugh, even in troubled times.


Our sweet baby Olivia went to Heaven 73 days
 ago, she has been gone as long as she was here and I still miss her so much. I catch myself looking at babies in the stores and thinking "she would be that size now", "she would be doing these things now".
 I still think about her a lot.  One of the things I think about is what is she doing in Heaven? What is Heaven like for a baby?
The Bible does say some things about Heaven but nothing I can really wrap my head around, streets of gold, diamond and sapphire cities, many mansions, winged worshipers. Nothing I can really get a picture of, nothing I can relate to. I just really wish I could get a glimpse.
Yesterday I got this picture in an email from one of my cousins, I really like this one.  So today when I think of Olivia being in Heaven the picture I have is of a very happy little girl sitting with a very kind and loving Jesus, I think maybe he is telling her a story about a little sheep on a french farm and any minute now they are both going to burst out in uncontrollable giggles.  That sounds like Heaven to me.