One among many others in this life stood this one day on a cliff. Below
him the cragged rocks were pointy and went jutting unevenly outward as the cliff
dropped downward in front of his feet. At the bottom of the cliff, there below
him, large boulders were presently being bashed almost ruthlessly now by the
ocean surf. Beyond the shore miles of blue waters went outstretching out into
the great ocean.
Here was where this man, who happened to be a bagpiper, liked to come and
play his pipes just before dusk during the summer on nights like these in Nova
Scotia. He currently felt a gentle wind hit him. It was a wind that felt
delicate, warm, as it came with a taste of salt water air meeting his nostrils.
Eons of time, centuries, had proceeded him, and that enormity of unfolding
time lay mysteriously hidden behind his present existence he often returned to
considering. The many millenniums and centuries of orbits of this earth and its
rotations happened here around him where beyond here, outside of this area in
the galaxy, was where the other wilder places and unknowns were.
There the unfathomable alternative distances and their mysterious unknowns
held strange beings, he strongly suspected this, unknown anomalies, spheres,
dimensions, platforms, perhaps an end of space, time, and atmosphere as he
thought he knew it. Out there was where stars ceased to move and where even
wilder and wackier unknowns appeared.
Breathing in the air while watching the waves crest white tipped and frothy
and then tumbling inland with a surge and a crash on the shore he looked to the
clouds hovering above him skyward. They were peculiar clouds that appeared there
now as he looked upward. The clouds were in unusual patterns in the summer sky
and he was left in awe of them after admiring their beautiful
configuration.
Looking at the clouds now He thought to himself that he thought he knew
that Heaven existed. He wondered what the great achievements towering skyward in
Heaven were and what might they really entail if seen. What it was like in the
Heavenly realm he didn’t really have any way of adequately knowing but somehow
he knew it was a real place. Thinking there now about people he loves dead and
buried he finds himself reflecting how often his thoughts return to the hope of
seeing those loved ones again.
Thinking about this he recalls that he had a vision once where an elaborate
city appeared in the sky that he admits was likely a delusion but maybe it
wasn’t. The Heavenly city resembled closely that of ancient Rome's coliseums
and Europe's towering gothic churches. The vision had appeared above him in the
daytime sky like on a day like today. The incredible buildings he saw in the
vision had been many times larger in scale then the remains of what were now
presently remaining of the former Roman Empire.
He kicked some loose rocks now as he watched two gulls that descended from
the sky landing in the rolling waves. Thinking that he heard some
noise he looked back behind him and saw three large spruce trees and a clay
colored dirt walking path winding through dried marsh with cattails and tiny
birds darting and singing about the ground.
Yes there would be awe inspiring vistas beyond the beautiful cities of
Heaven too he imagined. Like natural beauty on earth Gods creative nature would
unleash creativity a billion fold. There new but interesting experiences
like excursions, adventures, hikes, sailing trips, unheard of challenges, or
something new of considerable appreciation to encounter, would be a part of
enjoying what deserves to be called paradise. These new forms of
phenomenon exist like those on earth with our plants, land formations, rivers,
streams, lakes, oceans, mountain vistas, the peculiar marine life we
have, setting suns, only there these experiences are newer, even grandeur, not
yet seen, and the greater varieties of created experiences exist
very differently he strongly suspected. These experiences come like our own
yet they have not yet been heard of or even fathomed in their ingenious design
and possibility.
There also would be our newly improved hearts with us having greater and
fairer minds. A mankind where finally we become informed, enlightened, and
awakened to what true compassion and spiritual maturity looks like for us by God
in His plan and in His love for us.
So he thought, looking up the coast to green undeveloped pastureland
jutting out unto a peninsula, with our eyes open, our hearts unhardened, this
kind of enlightenment would be more then just pleasant. A harmonious mind and
spirit would lead to a greater mindset in all of us that would finally know the
kind of love that secretly, although now not always understood by the people
alive in a full awareness, is something we all really long for. There would come
a recognition of peace in the absence of the irrational. There would be no more
of those influences unfair, unkind, and indifferent to us and our wellbeing.
No longer would the state of man be one where we roamed the earth confused,
misguided, deceived, angry, hateful, greedy, while always overlooking the
interests of others.
God, the bagpiper reflectively considered with a sigh, could replicate all
kinds of happiness too and improve it dramatically because it is in His power to
do so and He will do it. For instance the high of narcotics was nothing compared
to what would be a truly beautiful state of joy. God gave glimpses of this joy,
of this kind of peace and happiness too, the bagpiper thought, but these
glimpses he suspected were only foretastes, though real and not to be dismissed.
These were foretastes of a further genius not yet revealed. There
would come this kind of joy beyond the joy we now get tastes of here and now he
was convinced so.
Of all the things that he mentioned to himself the biggest joy of all for
the bagpiper would be to know God the Father, Jesus the Son and further know The
Holy Spirit and to no longer feel distant, separated, or in anyway removed from
Gods presence.
As he thought all this in reflection now he stepped back a step and grabbed
his pipes resting on some rocks behind him. Once holding them in his arms he
stood facing the east, overlooking the tides below him, and he started to play.
He played the bagpipes loudly now in a shrill that sang melodies on the shore
and went sounding over the sea. He was standing alone but on the great stage of
life. It was a stage where he was looking outward into an expanse of
questionable distance while here alive among this seismic mystery. It was a life
full of great curiosity, a place filled with fright, and also filled with
possibilities.
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