Day 326: Happy Thanksgiving from our hearth to yours!
With every year that passes, I have more questions about Heaven and its comings and goings. Do you?
In my heart, I have always felt that the heavenly Departures (the people waiting to come to Earth) and the Arrivals (the people who have just returned to Heaven from their time on Earth) all mingle together. For instance, my mother died two years before my youngest daughter was born. For those two years, I like to think my mother and Meg got to spend lots of time together. I feel quite certainly that they did.
I have a new and wonderful reason to ponder this subject. Last year, our infant grandson, William, was a Departure and an Arrival on the same day. Our family had 90 minutes with him before he needed to return. You can bet that in the year since, I have constantly imagined him, back in Heaven, safe and sound, with all of our loved ones who arrived in Heaven before him. There has been great solace and comfort in that belief.
In the last couple of weeks, William’s mom and dad have announced that William and his two big brothers are going to have a new baby brother in a few months. This is such tender and amazing news for our family, and can you guess what I’ve been imagining? I bet you can.
I’ve been imagining a Heavenly train station; grand and light and bustling and full of joy. There are groups of people sending off the Departures to Earth with hope and excitement and love. And there are groups of people gathering to welcome back the Arrivals from their Earthly adventure.
In William’s case, that same group of loved ones waved goodbye at one gate, and then ran to the other side of the station to welcome him back. But now William has a little brother waiting in the Departure line.
Are they horsing around? Are they laughing together? Are they talking seriously of what’s to come? I think William is being the big brother. I think he is enjoying his time with his little brother before he sends him off at the Departure gate.
It’s funny how polar opposite those gates are here on earth, and yet, just the same. We greet the Arrivals with joy and gratitude, and we send off the Departures with lumps in our throats and aches in our hearts.
Today, as we sit around the Thanksgiving table, I will be thankful for the Departures, the Arrivals, and all of our loved ones on both sides of the veil who are waiting at those gates.
Today, I hope each one of you can feel the love of your loved ones who wait at the gate for you.
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