All Things Beautiful

Have you ever just sat and thought about all the beautiful things you have seen in this life? I'm a person who absolutely loves nature. So the many places I have been in my life, I have found that the most beautiful are actually the ones found in nature.

As a youth, there were many times I would go camping with our church youth group. That usually involved long hikes in the mountains of Bishop, CA or Mammoth. Our youth leader would take us high into the altitudes of who knows where. But night time was an amazing wonder. Because it is so pitch black up there, the stars and constellations you could observe were amazingly huge. I remember observing the Milky Way. It was awesome to look at. The number of stars was countless and went on forever. There were often delights such as a star falling. It's during those observations that I always wondered about heaven and how it is beyond a dimension we can't even see.  Being in the middle of the desert is similar, but being higher up just seems more dramatic. You feel like you are just part of such a huge universe.

If you have ever flown in an airplane, do you remember the first time you looked out the window and saw the different patterns of landscape? That to me is beautiful. Even more beautiful was flying above the clouds. You realize at that altitude how small each of us really is.

Another beautiful experience I remember in my youth was going on vacation to Arizona and observing all the different sights there. The most wondrous sight was of course the Grand Canyon. It was enormous (enormous is an understatement). As an adult, I took my own children there as well. I had always wanted to ride a donkey down into the Canyon just to see it up close, but probably won't have that opportunity. I loved the sunsets in Arizona as the colors of all the different textures and shades of earth would change at each level as the sunset was happening.

The Oregon coast is also another beautiful experience I enjoyed. It's not like the beaches in California. It seems like the ocean is further out in Oregon. There are those huge boulders that stick up straight into the air. It seems like the ocean creatures are more forefront up there as well. I had never seen a starfish moving from the sand back into the ocean before. There were sand dollars everywhere. As you moved into the more populated coastal areas, there were coves of driftwood full of all kinds of marine life. My favorite place on earth has always been the beaches. It doesn't matter if it is in California, Oregon or Washington -- it is my favorite place. I could sit for hours just gazing out into the vast waters. I love the breeze and the sounds of the waves hitting the shore and the rocks. To this day, one of my favorite sounds is the sound of seagulls. I also love to hear the sound of a distant seal. So there is an understanding that the sea will be no longer in heaven. When I first read about that, I was so disheartened, but then I remembered, you know what? What we have here that we call beautiful is so substandard to what God has in store for us when we get to heaven. I know there would still be rivers and lakes, which in my book are just as beautiful to sit next to and contemplate all sorts of relaxing thoughts.

When I was a young adult, quite often, I would visit Forest Falls in the San Bernardino Mountains. That place is so beautiful. If you climbed up the back of the creek, there was a meadow in the middle of no where. I loved to sit there and just watch everything around me. The flowers were beautiful when they were in full bloom. To this day I love river rocks, because of the memories I have visiting there. When you go to the actual falls, I just loved to sit at the base and just listen to the roar of the falls hitting the rocks. It was so relaxing. Further down the streams, I also loved to listen to the trickles of water hitting the river rock. Shasta Lake, CA and Yosemite, CA are also other similar places of beauty.

I am not a fan of thunder and lightening, but when we lived in Brawley, CA for a short few months over the summer of 1975, I remember the random storms that would occur -- as this is a desert region. After all the commotion of the storms and the sky would start clearing, the span and depth of color of the rainbows that were produced were like no other I have experienced. They were glorious. Sometimes there would be double rainbows. I just love rainbows. Of course, they always remind me of God's promise to not flood the earth again as He did in Noah's time.

Aside from outdoor nature, seeing the newborn faces of my children is one of the most beautiful experiences I have had. I had never seen a birth up close and personal until I aided my daughter in birthing her daughter. I remember the exhaustion I had experienced and could barely stay awake at the time her little head was crowning. Thank goodness for my best friend and son attending with me, because they said she was coming and my weariness left and I saw the most beautiful face entering this world. As I reminisce about this event, I can still remember exactly how she looked. I just thanked God for her right at that moment and thanked God for keeping my daughter safe during her delivery. I had a whole new respect for my daughter after witnessing her going through labor and the birth of her daughter. I also witnessed my oldest son cutting the umbilical cord. That was beautiful!! I wasn't available for the birth of my grandson, but seeing his precious face after he was born was as equally beautiful and amazing as the rest of my babies.

To me, music and art are also beautiful. The more masterful; the more beautiful.

As I wrap my thoughts around the beautiful things I have witnessed here on earth, I can't help but reflect on what heaven will be like. When I think of heaven, I usually think of meeting Jesus for the first time. The song, "I Can Only Imagine" comes to mind. The splendor and magnitude of holiness that will be placed before me would just be too much to remain standing and I know I would fall to my knees. The visuals that have been expressed to us in scripture as what heaven will look like is beyond words and our imaginations, but it sounds beyond what we consider beautiful.

Revelation 21:21: "And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass."

Revelation 22:1-2: "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."