Reading in Snatches

I glean.

Baby splashes in the tub, and every few seconds calls out for help in retrieving a wayward duckie. Finger holding my place, I reach over and push the prodigal toy closer to her dimpled hands, then return to the paragraph I have read three times over.

But God is good, and the nuggets of truth that I glean from my books still penetrate. A glimpse for you, my dear reader, of reading in snatches; gleaned truth, and damp paper corners from the bubbles on my fingers.

Georgie looked up, his gaze clouded in thought. "So Mr. Edmund is a spirit now? Like a ghost?"

"Not a ghost, George. But yes, he's spirit, and he's in heaven with Jesus. If you were in heaven, you'd see him plain as day. You'd recognize him in a minute. Because you'd be spirit, too."

Georgie hugged himself. "I don't want to die like Mr. Edmund. And I don't want my mom or dad to die or Mr. Caleb or Miss Annie or Miss Birdie or Miss Bea-"

"Georgie." Zuriel dropped his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You don't have to fear death, and you certainly shouldn't worry about it. All things die." He hesitated when Georgie flinched. "It's like this," he said, leaning closer. "Look at your body-your hands, your fingernails, your hair. Every little part of you is alive as long as it's attached to the living part of you, your soul. But if you trim your fingernails or get a haircut, pieces of you fall off and get thrown away. Are you sad about losing those pieces?"

Georgie shook his head. "No, 'cause the barber gives me a candy bar if I sit still for the haircut."

"Well"-Zuriel spread his hands and lifted a brow-"it's the same thing. The things that die aren't important because the part that's alive keeps going on. When Christians die, their spirits go straight to heaven, and their worn-out bodies get...put away."

He paused, lifting his gaze to the steeple on the church across the street. "I'm always a little amazed when people cry at funerals. There's really no reason for them to be sad. Their loved ones aren't gone; they've only relocated. And the reunion will come soon enough."

"I know why they cry." Georgie spoke softly, and when Zuriel looked down, the boy was staring at his mother's frozen flower bed, still dusted with this morning's snow. "They cry because they miss the person. And heaven is very far away."

Zuriel sat silently, absorbing the human perspective revealed in the boy's words. Truth to tell, he had forgotten how limited human understanding could be. They didn't have the luxury of zipping to heaven in the twinkling of an eye, and they didn't have the ability to see beyond the physical dimensions of earth. Though the Lord had given them clear insights, instructions, and assurances in the written Word, not all of them believed it, or bothered to read it.

"I suppose you're right, George," he whispered, feeling the chill for the first time since stepping outside. "But man was not created for this world. God created humans for heaven, for eternity, and all their longings will be fulfilled when they finally reach their home. Heaven is all you could ever imagine...and more."

-The angel, Zuriel, and a conversation with his charge, Georgie, from Grace in Autumn