perspective

I really enjoyed this posting on the Desiring God blog:

10 Resolutions for Mental Health

It doesn't have the world's most gripping title, but it's eminently worth the read -- especially if you study or work in an environment where you run into a lot of humanist psychology (say, a public university...).

The 10 resolutions are Piper's retelling of a plea from one of his professors at Wheaton "to stop seeking mental health in the mirror of self-analysis, but instead to drink in the remedies of God in nature."

On a related (?) note, today I was at Disneyland with some friends from law school and went on Small World for the first time in a couple years. The ride bothers me (actually, just about every ride at Disneyland bothers me for some reason), especially the ending part with all the animatron children performing in a one-world white-clad chorus. I always wonder if that's supposed to be what heaven looks like.

So I was on the ride thinking these things and trying to come up with a secular perspective on heaven. Because I KNOW that there are lots of people out there who think they believe in heaven but have no desire to live eternally in the presence of God. And I'm thinking that secular heaven would look a lot like the white part of Small World. World peace. Smiling faces. Happy songs. People holding hands and dancing.

And it occurred to me that this just wouldn't work. The idea of heaven doesn't work unless it's about something. And unless we are somehow no longer our same selves. It's not happy to just be happy. What if I like to sing something different than you like to sing (What are we singing about, anyway? How happy we are?)? Or if I skip higher or faster? Or if I like your white wooden clogs better than my white leather sandals?

Pretty soon, that world peace thing is history.

Now, if heaven is about something -- or Somebody -- and we can all bring our unique beings to the table and present them to Him for the joy of being part of His joy, and if we are somehow freed from that power that makes us believe ourselves more important than all others -- then that could be a truly happy place to be.