A Little Peace of Heaven

This week I'm lucky enough to be writing my blog outside. A sentence or two here or there, while I wait for a turkey to answer my calls, is really refreshing! There really is something peaceful about sitting outdoors and putting words to your thoughts. Sometimes life gets a little crazy and I'm thankful for the moments where I can take a break from everything busy and just have a few minutes in a special place where everything is peaceful and quiet. Everyone needs to be immersed in a place like that, at least every once in a while and for me, it was just what I needed! A little touch of heaven right here on earth.

 Many of you know my dad or have at least read about him in some of my writings. My dad is getting older, battling cancer, sugar, old age and everything else that happens with time. Up until several weeks ago he was a lot brighter than some of us and knew pretty much what was going on, even though he needed help getting around. But that changed in the last couple of weeks and a lot of confusion and weakness settled in. It was becoming very difficult to care for him. It seemed to happen quickly.  In fact, exactly a month ago we were all out in the pavilion celebrating his eighty-ninth birthday. He enjoyed seeing the fish we caught and the geese and their newly hatched goslings. The pavilion and the pond life was the place that dad liked to go to find his little bit of heaven here on earth. He really enjoyed his party, even if he couldn't get around real well. In the days after the party, his mind started to deteriorate. It was hard to see dad getting really  confused and saying lots of things that didn't make sense. Along with that he became really weak. Dads a big man and taking care of him was quite an undertaking.

As a family, we decided it was the right time for him to go to Goodwill Nursing Home.

And so these first couple of days of him being there have given me reason to wonder and ponder. Does he like it there? Does he hate it? Does he even know where he's at? Why does life need to end this way?

We all have the desire for the real heaven, but while we wait, can't we have a little more of it here on earth?  Especially the people going through a really hard time, like a person in a nursing home. Where in a nursing home can someone go to find a piece of heaven on earth? Wait!  Maybe it's the “peace” of heaven that we all seek. Maybe God gives us that peace in different ways. Sometimes it comes from what we see. Sometimes it comes through what we feel. And just maybe it comes through what we imagine.

When I visited dad Friday night, he recognized me, but it didn't take long to realize that he was in a different world. The nursing home sits on a hill above where he used to hunt coons with his dog Rover. I asked if he remembered the story he used to tell about Rover throwing the coon across the creek and then the coon throwing the dog across the creek. His response was, "did I get him?". It saddened me to see his confusion. He kept chuckling about different things that didn't seem funny to me, such as  the folks on TV talking about Mark Zuckerberg making billions of dollars. He would chuckle and say, " a million dollars".

 But then it dawned on me that maybe he was finding his little “peace” of heaven right there in his imaginative mind!

 When I left I told dad that I was leaving and needed to put in my chickens because if I leave the door open to the barn the raccoons will get them. He said, "no kiddin', I will go and get my dogs". I told him  that I thought that would work. If he gets his dogs after the racoons then the racoons won't get after the chickens. And Dad said, "hey, that's exactly what I've been doing".

I maintain the view that we live in a fallen and decaying world. Our life in this world is temporary along with those things around us. But God gives us glimpses of the good, of the way things were meant to be. He loves us and lets us into those times, spaces and places. He's reminding us of heaven and a better future if we want it, and he really wants us to be there. He also lets us see glimpses of the bad and the ugly. Reminders that we probably don't want to live here on earth or in our world's fallen state forever. 

As our family moves into this next phase of life, I'm thankful for all of the support we feel from each other and everyone out there. It's not always easy, but it is what it is. And when Dad gets confused, I'm going to be alright with it. I'll just be thankful when he's happy, and know that he's found a little “peace” of heaven, right here on earth!