Today was cool and beautifully overcast, the vanilla sky occasionally spitting out raindrops. Oldest brother brought his small chainsaw over here yesterday, cut the old scuppernong vine down and we pulled the arched trellis out into yard. Four years I’ve lived here and the vines haven’t produced any fruit. Read the vines don’t usually produce fruit after twenty years. Well, the vine is older than I am. I sat in the yard this morning in my purple yard chair by the trellis determined to unweave those vines so I could use the trellis for growing cucumbers in my vegetable garden. Well, forget that…I don’t think you could even cut those vines off.

The vines’ little runners were wrapped around like thin wire on the vines, the trellis legs, the arch. My youngest son and I just dragged the trellis over to the old water oak and pushed it down in the soft ground beside the tree. The songbirds love all the hiding places among the vines. The trellis was full of cardinals when I walked Penelope at dusk. The titmice and chickadees loved eating from the small feeder near the vines. I’m anxious to see if they’ll keep visiting that feeder now that the trellis of vines is gone. Gonna get some climbing roses or maybe a clematis vine to grow up the trellis among the dead vines. It’s actually pretty, though, with just the bare vines woven all over the arch. Makes me think of the Bible verse in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Today’s quote is by Henry David Thoreau. He said, “Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads.” Isn’t that a beautiful statement to ponder on. Chief always said we were living in heaven on earth and heaven was just an extension of earth. Thoreau is telling us we can find heaven on earth by appreciating the earth’s beauty, finding joy in our every day moments, appreciating the grandeur and wonder of this glorious world. I think we can find heaven on earth if we give our hearts to God and face each day with thankfulness for the blessings we have. When we learn to be content with our ordinary days and quit searching for things we think will make us happy we’ll find our heaven here on earth.

Psalm 115:3 states that “God is in the heavens.” Heaven is defined as “a place regarded in various religions as the home of God and the angels and the good after death, often depicted as being above the sky.” Heaven is described as a place free from suffering, pain, and death. A place with no tears. Scripture reads heaven is an eternal home for those who follow God, a place where we will live an eternal life in God’s presence. Jesus speaks of “preparing a place for believers.” John 14:2-3 states, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” 

I think of heaven as an eternal inheritance from God and a glorious reunion with loved ones who have preceded us in death. John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Heaven requires us to live a life of Christian beliefs and values, a life of prayer and worship, a life of studying God’s words and obeying his commandments.

I think we all have an innate desire to go to heaven to have a spiritual fulfillment of peace and joy in communion with God. We look forward to reunions with loved ones in eternal life where there’s no suffering and no tears. “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven; but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else,” C.S. Lewis.

“Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” — Elizabeth Barrett Browning