Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Bringing Heaven to Earth.

My brother Bill doesn’t look like the philosophical type, in fact he probably looks like the aged 60s hippie that he is. But my eyes have always seen him as the wise grandfather, sitting with his pipe in the seat of honor in a tipi, the sage who speaks of important matters but does not give a lot of time to trivia.

I visited his home in February not long before he was scheduled to have triple bypass surgery. It was a scary thought. We lost my father at age 50. Heart problems are prevalent in my family. Bill was soon turning 60. He also had smoked a good part of his life, and had concerns with emphysema. The visit was warm and wonderful, but it had a very “real-time” feel to it. Who knew what would happen in the weeks to come?

So we were discussing the political climate, the response around the world, and the potential for positive change. Soon our talk transitioned from political to philosophical. “I believe we don’t understand our most important purpose,” I said. “I believe people are here to support each other. We are meant to be there for each other.”

“Um hmm,” he replied from somewhere deep inside. “I think our job here is to learn how to bring heaven to Earth.”

I smiled in acknowledgment. “Nice way of putting it.”

So, we’re eating dinner and discussing everything from kids to jobs, and I asked Bill if he had ever heard of Christian, the Lion. He had not.

Christian was a cub when two young men in England, Ace and John, adopted him back in the 1970s. Recently the story has resurfaced, now with a youtube video seen by millions of people all over the world. What happened (the short version) is this: After a number of months in their flat over a store, the men realized that the most loving thing they could do for this lion whom they had grown to love, and who loved them back, would be to find an area in Africa where it could go and “learn” to be a lion again, to live a free life. They did not want to have to put Christian in a zoo! To make a very beautiful and long story short (see the documentary or read the book for more information), the men did what it took to get Christian to a refuge in Kenya, under the care of George Adamson (known for saving Elsa in Born Free). In the current two-minute video, we see the young men visiting Kenya one year after they had left Christian there, with doubts as to whether he would even remember them. I was telling Bill about watching them in the video calling "Christian" and looking around this vast desert, when suddenly a lion appears on a ridge, sees them, and what begins as a careful walk becomes a stride and then a run as Christian realizes who they are. With Whitney Houston in the background singing “And I will always love you,” Christian flies into the arms of Ace, hugging him and kissing him, then proceeds to do the same with John. Minutes later, Christian's "wife" is on the scene, and it appears that he's introducing her to his first owners. The story is quite emotional, and Bill loves animals of all kinds so I was sure he'd want to see it. 

As I finished the story he looked at me and said, “Now that’s bringing heaven to Earth.”


Copyright Rachel Roggio 2009

So – the theme this month is – “bringing heaven to Earth.”
If you have a thought for what bringing heaven to Earth looks like to you (one or two sentences is fine) please step in (the blog, the circle) and share your thoughts.

8 comments:

  1. Bringing Heaven to Earth is a beautiful thought!

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  2. Thank you for sharing this with us. The good things I could say about you are infinate but I will only take a minute to say the world is a better place with you in it. Keep up the good work!

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  3. Every minute with my grandson's is bringing Heaven to Earth to me! Enjoy every minute while you can.

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  4. I gave it a lot of thought and came up with many ideas regarding what "creates" Heaven on Earth. I came up with things such as compassion, honesty, passion etc... but these are all bi-products of love aren't they? So the only thing that truly and fully equates to Heaven on Earth is love.

    I think we can easily convolute the awesomeness of love with too much thought. The beauty of love is in it's simplicity.

    Blog on sistergirl!

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  5. To me Billy is so special that the love he has for life just glows all around him. When God made him he added a touch of heaven into his soul. I think heaven on earth is when people can find it in their heart to help others, even if is in prayer; along with patients and forgiveness. The story about Christian was beautiful. I turn on the tears for animals, even in the Disney animated movies. Animals, like humans, have the natural instinct to love. Most animals can be domesticated; however, I strongly believe that they shouldn’t be taken out of their natural environment.

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  6. There are times when you know you're just in tune with everything; you're at the right place at the right time, it feels like something is carrying you and nothing can go wrong. That feeling of connection to source is my idea of bringing heaven to earth.

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  7. Remembering Billy, I think of gentleness. Actually if you believe the Biblical stories and believe we were created in God's image, then Heaven is already on Earth. Our task then would be to accentuate the godlike qualities, which as mentioned by someone above, is all characteristics of love, including concentrating on our individual talents and creativity. Creation is after all the greatest expression of love. I think living a life that you enjoy, appreciating all the things that were created for our pleasure and treating them with gentleness, experiencing something new everyday, fellowship with one another all these aspects are exemplifying heaven on earth. The scriptures say to: strive for perfection. Always moving forward then is the key.

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  8. maybe heaven is not perfect either.
    maybe heaven is the wonderful smell of fallen leaves. a second of heaven is always present... like a heart beat or a cloud that is just the perfect shape .heaven can also be sadness or worry that leads to relief or completion.heaven comes one second at a time.we just have to take notice.

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