heaven's on my mind...

“I’ll take the green one with the yellow and white stripes. Your turn.”
“Umm, the patterned blue one will look nice in my den. I’ll go with that one.”
I can remember back to a time in my childhood when I lay on the guest bed while I watched the quilts, handmade by my grandmother, be divided between my mom and my aunt. One by one, each daughter carefully chose which quilts would soon serve as their physical legacy of my dearly loved grandmother for generations to come...

Other than the all-powerful motive of finally seeing my Savior face to face along with His nail-scarred hands, I feel as though I have more motivation and excitement about heaven than the average joe my age. By the time I was a junior in high school, only a 16 year old, I had attended the funerals of all four of my grandparents. It is such an encouragement to know that each one of them is in heaven, awaiting the arrivals of their daughters, sons, grandchildren, and most importantly, their youngest grandchild - me. I miss my grandparents but realize their absence is a large and contributing factor to the reason why I am so passionate about the day when my faith does, indeed, become sight. You already know I love hymns, but I always feel a special connection to the last verse, as it's usally about heaven... I can't even fathom being able to say to Him FACE to FACE after years of reciting via prayers, "If ever I loved thee, my Jesus tis now." It's gonna be glorious.

I've especially been missing them lately for some reason. Yes, I was able to aprreciate them as a child, but I wish I could know them now, as a twenty-one year old, able to appreciate their stories, humor and advice. I was just a kid when I knew them; I wish I had them now. I am, though, forever grateful to my grandparents, because not only did they each take part in training my parents to be Godly examples to their children, but because each has left their own qualities and distinctive memories in my heart. They each taught me many lessons as each portrayed a model worthy for me to follow. From Grandaddy’s hearty laugh and musical passion, to Grandmother’s sweet spirit that taught me more than I could ever imagine about being content and thankful, my dad’s parents were faithful in constantly pointing me toward Christ. From PaPa’s humor and ability to entertain, to MeMa’s zest and upbeat attitude toward life, my mom’s parents will always be alive in our family as their joyfulness was so contagious. I’m so glad to know a small part what heaven holds in store for me. I can’t wait to see Jesus; I can’t wait to see my grandparents. Until then, I can only long for that time. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!