Going Home to a Joyful Greeting

I’m sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for my flight to go home. I got here early — I always do when I’m flying — and so I have almost an hour to wait. It’s kind of cool that you can get online from just about anywhere these days using free wifi hotspots.

It’s a beautiful sunny day here in San Francisco. I was actually a bit too warm in my long sleeve shirt on the way to the airport, but I know I will be glad I’m wearing it when I get home to Portland. Even though I am leaving sunny warm weather — which I love — to go back to not-so-warm, probably rainy weather — which I’m not terribly fond of — I am incredibly glad to be going home. I miss my family, my pets, my own cooking, my pillow, and my familiar surroundings.

My little dog will be so happy to see me when I walk in the door. His reaction when I arrive home from being away, whether for an hour or a week, makes me think of how Jesus and my loved ones will react when I finally go home to heaven. I imagine they will be so happy to see me, they will jump up and down and “wag their tails” for the joy of seeing me again. And I will feel that same warm and joyful feeling I have when my dog greets me when I walk in the door.

I love seeing little glimpses of heaven in the world around me. Like seeing in my dog’s greeting the greeting I will experience in heaven. Or seeing in the beauty of nature and a sunny day the beauty that exists in heaven. Or seeing in the love of a child or spouse the love of God for us. Even better is knowing that the reality of heaven is so much greater than the glimpses I see. The apostle Paul wrote:

Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 1 Corinthians 13:12.

God made this world and there is much beauty and wonder in it. Flowers that bloom in a myriad of colors, trees that bear fruit and nuts, mountains that tower in the distance covered in snow, and mighty rivers that rush over waterfalls all reveal the majesty of God’s creation. But this world has been corrupted and amid the beauty is much sadness, ugliness, and decay. If we can look past all of that and focus on the beauty we will see a little glimpse of heaven, where the wonder and majesty of God’s creation remain undefiled. And maybe, just maybe, if we focus on the beauty and wonder of what is around us instead of the ugliness and corruption, we will magnify God and what He has done.