Reimagining Heaven

Visions Far Beyond the Glitter of Gold

The vaulted ceiling inside the Sistine Chapel, 2022, photo by the author

Pastor Ken speaks of Heaven’s beauty — 
gates fashioned from pearls,
streets gleaming like gold under a hot sun.

But I’ve wondered, quietly,
why God, vast and unknowable,
would craft His kingdom
from the very things
we were taught to leave behind.

Was He spent after igniting
the stars, spinning the galaxies
with a flick of His hand.
Did His wonder fade
giving breath to the cosmos?

Maybe the prophets,
with their feet rooted in dust,
couldn’t quite see
the expanse of His dream,
writing as if the sun
bowed to their words.

I bear them no grudge.
They saw what they could.
But now, we see further,
visions far beyond
the glitter of gold,
as bright as the fields
we walk in our quiet hours,
infinitely more wondrous
than we dared imagine.

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