Strong, sturdy horses of various sizes stand near the stable and wait for a ride. Ears perked forward, some are saddled English, some Western, with small shadows at their feet from the afternoon sun. A blissful day of riding awaits - for the horses as well as riders, for they were not unwillingly harnessed to work but freely invited to the procession. And no one, not horse or human, wanted to miss the opportunity.
This is the picture I discovered on a decorative tin. It captured my imagination, transported me to a world my heart longs for - a place of perfection I imagine briefly before reality calls me back. For "He [God] has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 4:11
Heaven, what a lovely topic to consider. C.S. Lewis points out that the uniqueness of each individual will enable them to appreciate specific aspects of God like no one else. He writes, "if all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the Church triumphant would have no symphony, it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note." In describing our innate desire for heaven he writes, "All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness." "... God will look to every soul like its first love because He is its first love. Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it - made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand." "Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say 'Here at last is the thing I was made for.'"*
"You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you." Nehemiah 9:6 b NIV
* Quotes from 'Heaven' in "The Problem of Pain" by C.S. Lewis, pgs. 640 and 641 in The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
