More From Richard Kehoe

Two or three times a week, I now spend a few minutes visualizing what a day in heaven would be like. God’s word is always my guide as I do this. When I read that God has provided me with fullness of joy and pleasures forever, I ask myself, What does that look like for me? I sense that God is helping me to “see” the joys and pleasures of heaven tailored to my needs. Fishing trips, hikes in the mountains, and close relationships are common blessings.

This kind of looking to heaven helps engage my heart as well as my mind in fixing my eyes on the things above. I noticed a few years ago that I still had a strong fear of death and was not looking forward to heaven. I believe that God gave me this exercise to help overcome this fear by making heaven more tangible and real for me. Of course, I know that whatever exciting things God puts into my imagination, heaven will be much better.

But it is still a work-in-progress. I often get distracted by the troubles of living on this planet. But I do this exercise as a discipline to better obey God’s command to set my mind on the things above. I am confident that my capacity to look beyond the pains of this life and to joyfully give thanks to Jesus for his exciting salvation will continue to grow as I look to heaven.