Thoughts on Heaven, Pt 4, Gifts: Here and Now, Then and There

What do you love to do? Is your free time taken with reading great novels, or conquering 18 holes at the local golf course? Do you enjoy music, art, painting? What brings you joy here on earth, and what fuels your passion?

I love nature. I love to garden and get my hands dirty. I like the feel of the earth in my hands as I squeeze and press the gritty soil between my fingers, and I love to see tiny seedlings grow and produce beautiful flowers or delicious veggies. I love the work involved in tilling the soil, and pulling weeds, and hauling water. I may not always be excited about the labor and sweat effort, but somehow it brings great joy to my inner being. 

I like to create. I crochet. I enjoy watching a piece of yarn become a baby sweater or tiny booties, or a goofy hat a child will enjoy. It seems like magic as the metal hook weaves a single thread into a work of art. I also enjoy painting. I do not possess the exquisite talent others have, but my paint-by-numbers have brought me hours of joy. Even though I'm no Rembrandt, it makes me happy when I find and fill in all those tiny "2"s, "3"s, and "4"s.

I also enjoy writing. I may not be a Hemingway or T.S. Eliot, but I love to write. It has always been easy for me to express myself in written word. Somehow my pen pulls the inner thoughts and feelings from within me and translates them onto paper with such ease. It isn't work for me; it is an extension of me.

So. What do you like to do? What flows from you or brings you joy? What seems to radiate from the "real" you? 

God has given us gifts, talents and abilities as individual and unique as each of our fingerprints and genetic makeup. He created us to enjoy and be good at certain things-- gardening, cooking, writing, reading, singing, and yes, even golfing! He put those specific gifts within us for His glory. They bring joy to our hearts, but they also bring joy to His heart as He watches us use those gifts and abilities.    

But do these individually unique endowments end here on earth when we die? Are they only given for use in the here and now? What will we do in heaven? Will the things that we find pleasurable here be lost when we go to heaven?  

God created us to live forever. We are eternal beings; unique and fitted to live in heaven. Gifts are not given and then retracted. Heaven will be a "re-opening" of all the wonderful uniqueness we have already been given. We will be "re-opened" in the realm of perfection, where all things will be made pure and beautiful. 

Can you picture in your mind what that will be like? I can barely wait for that day!