Heaven does not occupy my thoughts very often. I figure if I’m doing my best to listen to God’s call now, everything will fall into place after I leave this mortal life. Minding my present day business is work enough.

Most descriptions of heaven from authors, speakers, acquaintances and friends don’t interest me very much: streets of gold, women in long flowing pastel dresses, endless family reunions in beautiful parks, calorie-less hamburgers, billions of people worshiping together for eternity…. I dislike pastels and billions of people doing anything together is an introvert’s idea of hell. I guess I suffer from some serious lack of celestial imagination and curiosity.

The other day on a 3-hour flight from Salt Lake City to Memphis I did have my first, tiny foretaste of heavenliness. It was 5:30 Mountain Time. In the lottery of frequent fliers I had lucked out with seat 1A. A hot washcloth appeared on my tray table along with a linen place mat and a chicken pasta salad. It was like eating in a revolving, skyscraper restaurant, only higher up. It was not just the experience of dining at 35,000 feet that was heavenly. It was the feeling I had looking at the mountains and desert bathed in exquisite light and color. I was overcome with awe and delight. It was a feeling I could live with for eternity.

I’m no closer to a physical or tangible description of what heaven might LOOK like, but I think I have an inkling of what it will FEEL like. When “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” and “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4 NIV), every particle of my being will pulse with perennial awe and irrepressible delight.