Thursday, May 1, 2008

Light and Heaven

I have always felt, since I was very small, that heaven would be better lit than anywhere else. And even more than color, which drives me crazy in all the best ways, light fills me completely.

This photo has been my wallpaper on my art bench PC for over a year now. I love it primarily because it captures, with all the minute shadows in the gravel and on every rush, the clarity of the golden light of that day. It was a new place, an ocean place, and one of the best lit afternoons in my memory.
Every stone on the beach was made heart-achingly beautiful and desirable, to me, by the flood of photons poured over everything. I tried repeatedly to capture that clarity, but our camera, and my skills with it, weren't up to the task. The great gorgeous feast of light made my blood sing, made me almost giddy, but I could not really capture that on film. And even as I took a few stones with me, I knew they would not look the same taken out of that light.

And that's how I picture heaven. It will be the place where we can absorb ever more light, without pain or injury, and where everything will be so beautiful that we won't want to go anywhere else. The light will feed us, clothe us, cleanse us, make us whole and young and full of life and energy forever. In that light all will be revealed, and all will be forgiven and made right. And to me the judgment will also be about that light - we will either long for it and move ever into it, or we will fear and shun it. I hope and pray, when our time comes, that we all turn our faces toward that light, and embrace it with all our hearts. That's when we're all going to find out who God is. I think we'll all be surprised in many different ways - and I hope that will be part of the fun.

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