fantastic

What is it about fantasy that so strikes my soul? I mean, I can read plenty of books, and I do, about regular people, and though I may love it, it never sucks my brain in quite like Tolkien, or C.S. Lewis, or even Harry potter or Twilight for that matter! Maybe it's obvious. I crave an alternate reality. Perhaps I am discontent with myself. I would prefer to have magical powers, or some kind of mythical secret friends... whatever it is about fantasy, it really just gets its hooks into my brain, taps into some yearning in a way that nothing else does. But I guess that is a reflection of my broken state, and that something within me reaches out for what I should have been, if the Fall had never occurred, or what I should be, were I living up to my full potential.

Stephanie Meyer may have been on to something with this vampire thing; a perfected version of humanity, at least the "vegetarian" ones... what with the super human strength, speed, indestructibility, and beauty; it reminds me of what we will be like eventually, with our new bodies. Does that sound crazy? Of course it does. But what seems to me like a bit of sense is when Paul talks about running the race in such a way as to win. And seeing ourselves perfected in Christ, our completion, the way that we are being perfected through our trials. And how now, we see but in part, but one day we will see clearly. That is what I yearn for, I think.

I do believe that someone else described our new bodies and minds in a similar way, how, though we are still ourselves, recognizable, we will be beautiful beyond compare, and our understanding will so surpass what we can grasp now... maybe we will actually use all of our brains, not just a measley 10%. Was it C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce? I think I might need to reread that. I think that's what I am thinking of, though. Seeing those who had died, looking like themselves, and yet more glorious than any earthly person.

I had a conversation with my girls tonight, about heaven, and seeing Jesus. At times, my reaction is to shy away from giving them direct answers to their questions, or discourage them from thinking too literally about what heaven may be like. But what do I know? Didn't Christ teach us that our faith needs to be like that of a child? That is really hitting me lately, so I just listened to them tell me that they were excited to see Jesus, that they knew that they would be able to run so fast as to fly, and that they would be able to go with him into the clouds. This was all prompted by their telling me how unrealistic Jack and the Beanstalk is, since a cloud could never hold a heavy house, nor could a hen lay golden eggs. But they get that nothing is impossible with Christ. They are 5, and they are teaching me so much.