Sat outside in the swing while the rain poured down this morning. The sky was colored dolphin gray and the raindrops fell straight down, no wind to send me back in the house. The swings stayed dry. The porch was so pleasant as the rain lowered the temperature and quieted the landscape. I put my peace lilies on the sidewalk so the plants could enjoy a nice shower. The earth is always so pretty after a rain, the nitrogen in the rain greening the earth, making it lush. Shortly, the sun burst through the clouds so I put the peace lilies back on the porch and sat down in the swing as the birds gathered on the feeders.

As the sun began drying up the puddles, thunderstorm clouds were forming, darkening purple across the far horizon. I grabbed Penelope and came back in the house at the first clap of thunder. Didn’t wait for the lightning to strike. The rain poured down, emptying the cloud bellies, then the sun came back out again, drying the grass and humidifying the heat. I went back to the swing, sat down and pondered, and did some bird watching till the next thunder boom sent me back inside. Kat just sleeps through the storms on her cushion in the double rocking chair by the front door. The loud thunder doesn’t disturb her sleep. Penelope hides under the bed when the first clap of thunder sounds.

I’ve had a fat little wren on the suet feeders the last few days. I hope Kat hasn’t eaten Mr. Downy Woodpecker but today makes three days in a row he hasn’t visited one of the suet feeders. There are five squirrels frolicking in my yard this morning. Three of them are on my large bird feeder near the zinnias, the other two chasing each other around the old oak tree trunk. The red hour glass shaped feeder, where the three squirrels are feasting, is huge, probably hold six pounds or more of seeds. The squirrels will clean it out in a day. Some days I let them enjoy feasting other days I spray around the feeder with stinky rodent spray. Today is a feast day for them but the rain has played havoc with their dinner parties.

I love sitting on the porch, mostly sitting in the swing, not swinging just sitting with my legs stretched out on the cushion. I feel close to God on the quiet days. As a child I’d sit on the porch’s brick steps at twilight with my baby brother, each of us holding a Mason jar of lightning bugs. Usually a yard dog behind us, stretched out the cool red porch tile. I remember my daddy sitting in the swing on the left side of the porch, one leg pushing the swing the other leg resting in the swing. Never saw him sit in the right swing. Maybe Mama sat there. Can’t remember where she sat, though. After getting ready for bed I’d be lulled to sleep by the squeaky lullaby of daddy’s swing chain. I can hear the swing now and see my baby brother asleep before me in the oak four poster twin bed next to mine. Those were happy summer times.

Been thinking about heaven today. Not ready to go there yet but I know heaven will have a huge front porch with big comfortable white rocking chairs where we sit and talk, reunited with our loved ones, rocking and looking out at a deep blue sky full of luminous white fluffy clouds, deeply content at home with God. An older former choir member might break out singing a beloved old hymn and we’ll all join in the singing. In John 14:2-3, Jesus says, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

I don’t see a swing on heaven’s porch and honestly I don’t see heaven as ostentatious with “streets of gold and gates of pearls.” If God dwells in heaven, sitting on his throne, we know heaven is a place of immense beauty, beauty we can’t comprehend as mere mortals. How glorious to live in harmony and peace with an absence of evil and suffering, free from the struggles of an earthly life. Revelation 21:4 states, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” We will live in perfect unity with God in whose presence we’ll find comfort and joy.

“Heaven gives us hope and makes our present burdens easier to bear.” — Billy Graham