There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of "Heaven" ridiculous by saying that they do not want "to spend eternity playing harps." ... People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs. --C.S. Lewis 'Mere Christianity'I recently read these lines by C.S. Lewis, and they got me wondering how many people really think this way. My mother used to tell me she imagined Heaven was just filled with souls in constant prayer, because when you're with God, you just want to praise Him all the time. Hmm. Doesn't sound right. Why would God create us just so we could sit around and worship Him? Sounds a bit too much like something Caesar or Rush Limbaugh would do.
I prefer to believe--there's a phrase for you--that once you get to Heaven, resolve your life's issues, and meet all the famous people (Jesus, Shakespeare, Elvis), there's lots of work to be done. God needs thousands of souls just to help the newly dead get used to life off Earth, train them in the ways of The Source, and help them become the soul they've always wanted to be. I like making this stuff sound colorful, but that really is what I believe!
Besides the transition team, there have got to be tons of souls in charge of Earth matters. I completely buy into the concept of God as an absentee landlord, but I feel like we must get *some* help from Heaven now and then. The case workers are sent out all over Earth, observing and tending where they can, and planting tiny seeds of wisdom in the ears of those who strain to hear and heed.
And assisting God in the really, really big matters is a team of souls that changes often (though that's a relative term for the Divine timeline of course). This group is known to my mind as The Ethereal Council. Their job is to watch over Planet Earth--and maybe some other locales too--and keep an eye on the really important issues. How many near-death experiences will be remembered, and of that number how many will write books about it? How many ghost/spirit sightings should there be? When to step in once humans start playing God too much? To what level should God and Heaven ever reveal itself to humanity? I really do believe that once God had created enough souls with the wisdom and love necessary to "run the shop" so to speak, it turned into a beautiful group effort. Everything I have learned about God tells me this is true.
So can you have a job like one of these in Heaven and also worship God Almighty? Of course you can, and I imagine Heaven is some version of exactly that, worshiping and serving God at the same time. But to imagine that the God you love would create you merely as a slave to serve Him is nonsense in my opinion.
And if we were just pets to the Divine, one step up from slaves, wouldn't that get old fast too? After all, having a dog fetch the newspaper or do a trick for you is fun, but isn't the best pet the one who becomes your friend? That's what I believe God has created us for, to be fellow friends in the universe. It will be impossible to ever forget our manners with the Divine, or to misunderstand the generosity of the friendship granted, but we will in fact be friends and indeed beloveds of a being made of pure Love.
A brief look at the model of True Love here on Earth is all that's needed to understand something of the nature of the relationship we will have with the Divine. When we love someone with all our heart, we do things for them. We serve them and care for them, we pray for them, and yes, sometimes we even play harps for them. God loves us so much, and the adventure that awaits us in Heaven is no boring church service or endless homily. It's a dance of spirit, a triumph of joy, and an endless relationship filled with the greatest love you could ever imagine.
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