Sending below--as my offering for this week's "Jerusalem's Daughters" article--an e-mail that I originally sent about a year-and-a-half ago to another list. It helps me keep my "balance" if I hold this perspective in the forefront of my thinking, so I am "reviewing" some of the things--including the hymn below--that I have written here to aid me in this endeavor.

May we all keep this perspective in view, so as not to become too mired in the temporal things of this world.

* * * * *


Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 9:32 PM

Dear Ones,

Today while I was in the car I was listening to a book on tape, which included a section about Loggerhead Turtles (long story leading up to it that I won't go into). The folks in the book were on an Island off the coast of South Carolina and they were trying to help the newly-hatched baby turtles get to the ocean before racoons, gulls, crabs, etc. could get to them to bite their little heads off for a quick snack or meal. ( :-( ) The author, in describing the sight of the tiny turtles beginning to swim animatedly and instinctively into the edge of that vast expanse of water, made this statement, "They had found the element they were destined for . . . ".

Tonight, while watching the Gaither Video, "Heaven", I couldn't help but think of that author's statement. Listening to the songs, quotes, talks, etc. on this video, it occurred to me that Heaven is "the element *we* are destined for", and we shall enter it with far greater joy and abandon than the tiny (silver-dollar-size) turtles hurled themselves into the foaming sea, the element for which they were destined.

Several hymns on the video stirred up my hope for that final home ("O Come, Angel Band", "Won't It Be Wonderful There?", "When We All Get To Heaven," "What A Day That Will Be" & others), but I was also intrigued with another song--one that I don't remember hearing before (though the tune did sound vaguely familiar) that is a view of heaven from this side of things. It was titled "I Wonder What They're Doing In Heaven Tonight". Somewhat sentimental? Yes, but I *was* reminded again that the reality of Heaven is going on right now, at the same time that the reality we're living in here and now is going on. And we know that the reality of heaven is our final destination, where death has been conquered, and where a place has been prepared and awaits us. This tremendous reality is what lies ahead of us.

The words of the following old hymn puts the focus on what we do "until then":

Until then, my heart will go on singing;
Until then, with joy I'll carry on.
Until that day my eyes behold the City,
Until the day God calls me home.

The verses that go with this chorus are below (for any not familiar with this hymn):

My heart can sing when I pause to remember
A heartache here is but a stepping stone
Along the trail that's always winding upward;
This troubled world is not my final home.

The things of earth will dim and lose their value,
If we recall they're borrowed for awhile;
And things of earth that cause the heart to tremble,
Remembered there will only bring a smile.

This weary world with all its toil and struggle
May take its toll of misery and strife;
The soul of man is like a waiting falcon,
When it's released, it's destined for the skies.

But until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I'll carry on;
Until that day my eyes behold the City,
Until the day God calls me home.

In Him,
Elaine