Heavenly Birthdays

I have two friends that celebrated a loved one’s birthday in Heaven the other day. One a mom who lost her son to suicide just after his 21st birthday. She asked us to do a random act of kindness in his memory. The other a new widow going through all the firsts after a long loving marriage. She is going home to be with her children and other family to celebrate her husband’s birthday. These are beautiful ways to celebrate our loved ones.

I wanted to ponder birthdays in Heaven. GriefShare tells us Heaven is beyond what we can imagine, which makes sense. When we think about Heaven it’s limited by what we know here on earth. There is just nothing here that compares.

Who will we celebrate with? How will we celebrate. I have three birthday twins in the Denver Metro area…. imagine how many birthday twins I have in Heaven? I imagine it is some party with an amazing amount of birthday twins… what if we have the same birthday as Peter, or James or Paul? Wow, can you imagine getting to share cake in a place where no one has trouble with gluten or sugar anymore; ice cream where no one has dairy issues, and where the party stretches for miles? And by the way, there is a celebration every day! There is no day without a birthday celebration!

In the midst of all this merriment, is the best praise band of angels, and as we celebrate and give thanks for our lives and the family members we are celebrating with…. well wait, just think about that a minute: I barely remember my great Grandparents on my mom’s side. I never knew my great Grandfather on my dad’s side, but that great Grandma lived to be 102! So I knew her well, but I think we are going to get to celebrate with generations way beyond that. Isn’t that mind blowing? Maybe that birthday we share with Peter, James or Paul comes being related to them! Who in the Bible would you want to be related to and why?

Isaiah 25:8a he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces

I googled verses about Heaven and this is the first one that came up, another beautiful thing about Heaven, especially for those of us that are in the “throws” of grief, still gripped in the journey that we simply must continue to walk through.

Father, help us to realize that our sorrows here on earth will someday be fully redeemed when we meet you face to face. While I may have tears today in my grief, once I’m in Heaven You will wipe away all my tears. Death is no more for our loved ones who have gone to Heaven ahead of us. What a beautiful thing to understand. Amen.