P.E. in heaven!

As we were driving along in the car the other day, Peter (my 8 year old) out of the blue declared, "I can't wait to get to heaven 'cause we won't have to do any schoolwork." (We had just spent about an hour struggling with spelling homework!) He went on, "But don't even talk to me about P.E.! P.E. is going to be amazing in heaven!" Can you guess what he tells me everyday was his favorite part of the day?! Yep, we know heaven is going to be incredible and so it must include lots of P.E.!

When we daily ponder heaven, it puts everything else in our lives in perspective. When Peter shared this, I was reminded of an illustration I heard several years ago. The great old preacher, John Newton wrote: "Suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate, and his [carriage] should break down a mile before he got to the city, which obliged him to walk the rest of the way. What a fool we would think him if we saw him ringing his hands and blubbering out all the remaining mile, 'My carriage is broken! My carriage is broken!'"

And yet how often is this my foolish attitude! I have the infinite joys of heaven just before me, and I am blubbering "My energy is broken! or My parenting is broken! or My finances are broken!..." I have God's unbreakable Word that tells me He loves me and cares for me and guides me and strengthens me and renews me, but I am blubbering about my broken carriage--and the city is only a few minutes away! John Piper put it this way: "Picture this life as a journey on your way to receive a spectacular inheritance. It will protect you from idolatry and make all your burdens lighter, and quell all your murmurings."

Lord, forgive all my murmurings, my love of things and comfort and ease, my failure to be truly and continually and overwhelmingly thankful for the abundant life You graciously offer us now and the infinite and eternal joys of heaven in the future. It's less than a mile to the city...and all that fabulous P.E.! To God be all the glory!