Dear Maya, Heaven is a time that will happen some day -- when God will be all-in-all. It's what happens when Love meets Love. (If your mom wants to read you more about what this means, in a way that you can understand, she can reach out to me and I'll send her a way to help you think more about it).
Riffing off what Jesus said "The kingdom of heaven is now" I think living in love ~ with ourselves, with everyone else ~ and appreciating all the beauty around us is a kind of heaven.
BTW, happy to look at The Givers with this crowd - sounds like fun!
Lovely tribute to Dirk Tillotson. "Dig in and don't be an asshole" is simply great advice. Think I'll try that intentionally. I owe so much to the writing of Lois Lowry. Gathering Blue was one of the books I shared with my students wrapped in paper and bows on each student's desk when they arrived in my class. The female protagonist's quest for truth was all the more powerful for my students who read The Giver on their own.
I don't know that I'd call it Heaven. Quakers don't go in much for that, so I don't have much context. But we do believe there is that of God in everyone and everything. I've come to think of it like a drop of water, this trembling thing that lives inside me, somehow miraculously holding its own shape, but also moisturizing everything of me around it. When I die I believe that drop just pours out of this vessel and back into the All, carrying with it everything it/I have absorbed along the way-- wisdom, stories, experiences. That pouring out into the All. That feeling of complete and utter absorption into the boundless Unity of Spirit. That is what I imagine Heaven is like.
This is beautiful. I didn't know Dirk, but I followed his work. As you know, Courtney was and always will be an important mentor for me as well. Stunning losses. Thank you for helping keep their memories alive.
Heaven is the garden we are planting in hell.
Thank you so much for paying tribute to him, Courtney. We have lost so much.
Dear Maya, Heaven is a time that will happen some day -- when God will be all-in-all. It's what happens when Love meets Love. (If your mom wants to read you more about what this means, in a way that you can understand, she can reach out to me and I'll send her a way to help you think more about it).
Riffing off what Jesus said "The kingdom of heaven is now" I think living in love ~ with ourselves, with everyone else ~ and appreciating all the beauty around us is a kind of heaven.
BTW, happy to look at The Givers with this crowd - sounds like fun!
Lovely tribute to Dirk Tillotson. "Dig in and don't be an asshole" is simply great advice. Think I'll try that intentionally. I owe so much to the writing of Lois Lowry. Gathering Blue was one of the books I shared with my students wrapped in paper and bows on each student's desk when they arrived in my class. The female protagonist's quest for truth was all the more powerful for my students who read The Giver on their own.
( See ...girls rock, too!)
I have such strong image of these books on the desks. How beautiful! Thank you.
This always brought out the students' curiosity and amped up my teaching to meet with their expectations of whether I had really given them a gift.
I don't know that I'd call it Heaven. Quakers don't go in much for that, so I don't have much context. But we do believe there is that of God in everyone and everything. I've come to think of it like a drop of water, this trembling thing that lives inside me, somehow miraculously holding its own shape, but also moisturizing everything of me around it. When I die I believe that drop just pours out of this vessel and back into the All, carrying with it everything it/I have absorbed along the way-- wisdom, stories, experiences. That pouring out into the All. That feeling of complete and utter absorption into the boundless Unity of Spirit. That is what I imagine Heaven is like.
Wow, I love this. Thank you for taking the time to write it.
I am so sad to hear the news of your friend and colleague
I would love to hear the answer to “ what is heaven and where is heaven” ! My 4 yr old granddaughters have been asking as well🙄🤷♀️🙏
This is beautiful. I didn't know Dirk, but I followed his work. As you know, Courtney was and always will be an important mentor for me as well. Stunning losses. Thank you for helping keep their memories alive.