Elece Hollis.com

For I have Smelled the Night-Blooming Cereus

Read this stanza of a sweet flower poem I found in an old cookbook.

God has been good to me, for I have smelled

Night-blooming cereus on starlit hedges-

And waxen-white gardenias, which swelled

With fragrance, blossoming on window-ledges.

From:

God Has Been Good to Me

By Frances Parkinson Keyes

I have smelled a pink rose and cut one for my kitchen windowsill. And I have watched butterflies on bright zinnias. And I have eaten at tables where fresh cut blooms were ensconced in vases. And I have driven down a road where thousands of wildflowers nodded in the summer breezes.

I have watched violets bloom. And I have seen the redbud blush. I have smelled the waxen magnolia on the wind. And I have seen daffodils dancing in the sunlight of a cold spring morning. And I have walked through carpets of fragrant clover. And I have watched raindrops drip off orange lilies. I have gathered woodland trilliums and carried them in huge bouquets.

God has been good to me. He has given me flowers and never charged me a penny for any one of them.

What is Heaven Like ?

“When one pictures heaven, he sees a grand-maned lion and carefree innocent children running and playing in open sunlit meadows of sweet grasses among untold numbers of windblown wildflowers.”

c.e.hollis

I cannot tell you what heaven will be like. Ideas of heaven are as varied as the flowers on the face of the planet. But I have often wondered.

Some envision walking on golden streets and living in palatial houses. Some say we’ll sit on clouds and play harps; that we’ll be dressed in white robes and wear golden crowns.

The Bible gives some descriptions that we can grasp as hints, but how can our minds conceive of glories so far outside the realm of our experience?

There will be music, wonderful music at all times that we can join in. I am certain of that. I have always loved music. When I was a child we sang an old hymn that went something like this:

Then the darkness shall turn to the Dawning

And the Dawning to Noonday Bright;

And Christ’s Great Kingdom will come on earth––

The kingdom of Love and Light!

You can imagine how those lines appealed to the poet deep inside me. And since I have believed that heaven will be here on earth with Jesus as our king.

But wherever it is, heaven will be where God is with us.

My Aunt Helen used to say we will never be bored there because we will be in a bustling wonderful city and we can attend classes and be learning forever. We will sit and converse with the saints, the apostles, and with Jesus Christ himself. We will see those we love who have gone before us and have happy times with them.

We will be finally whole and free in body, soul, and mind. True justice will reign. There will be fruit and delicious foods for us to eat and no more sickness, disease, death, pain, or war. God will wipe all the tears from our eyes.

I like the idea of fields of flowers myself, without the fear of harm from snakes or wild animals in a land of peace and goodness. I would love the music too.

As you have heard, “We can only imagine!” Can you imagine?