This morning, I dreamed of my favorite cousin Nellie. Her happy face just flashed in my head and she smiled at me at the middle of the Holy Spirit Breakfast. I knew I was daydreaming but I didn't know why.
The last time I dreamed about her was in my sleep when I saw her sitting and gigling under a tree while I walked toward her. She stood up excitedly when she heard the bell of the ice cream man who parked his cart behind me. The man gave each of us an ice cream cone for free, and she couldn't contain her happiness.
Nellie always had that cheerful and humble disposition in her but I had never seen her quite as ecstatic. I annointed and advertised her as my favorite cousin because, apart from my parents and siblings, she was the only one, out of hundreds of friends, cousins and relatives, who sent me Christmas cards every year in the early 80's, when I was new, homesick and struggling in America. Not only that, but also, when she gave birth to her first child she named Nino (after the Child Jesus because she survived a difficult pregnancy and childbirth due to her congenital heart disease) she chose me to be one of the godparents, even though I was living in the other side of the globe.
I was ready to gobble up my ice cream when I realized that something wasn't right. I looked at her face-to-face and asked her useless questions (because I already knew the answers) namely: "Aren't you supposed to be dead?" and " Didn't you die when you gave birth to your daughter?" She laughed joyfully and non-stop, turned around, and ran away from me, with her laugh trailing her.
I woke up with a smile on my face knowing that she's alive and--there's ice cream in heaven!
Now, which do you think came first--the ice cream in heaven or the ice cream on earth? If the ice cream in heaven came first, and I can already have a foretaste of it here on earth, therefore, can I experience heaven on earth? Can I actually be happy with God, here and now, inspite of all the sufferings around me?
Maybe, I was daydreaming because I didn't have enough sleep last night. Maybe, Nellie was telling me to be happy and not to worry about anything. Or, maybe, I had a foretaste of heaven because I felt the outpouring of joy, peace and love from the Holy Spirit the whole day.
The last time I dreamed about her was in my sleep when I saw her sitting and gigling under a tree while I walked toward her. She stood up excitedly when she heard the bell of the ice cream man who parked his cart behind me. The man gave each of us an ice cream cone for free, and she couldn't contain her happiness.
Nellie always had that cheerful and humble disposition in her but I had never seen her quite as ecstatic. I annointed and advertised her as my favorite cousin because, apart from my parents and siblings, she was the only one, out of hundreds of friends, cousins and relatives, who sent me Christmas cards every year in the early 80's, when I was new, homesick and struggling in America. Not only that, but also, when she gave birth to her first child she named Nino (after the Child Jesus because she survived a difficult pregnancy and childbirth due to her congenital heart disease) she chose me to be one of the godparents, even though I was living in the other side of the globe.
I was ready to gobble up my ice cream when I realized that something wasn't right. I looked at her face-to-face and asked her useless questions (because I already knew the answers) namely: "Aren't you supposed to be dead?" and " Didn't you die when you gave birth to your daughter?" She laughed joyfully and non-stop, turned around, and ran away from me, with her laugh trailing her.
I woke up with a smile on my face knowing that she's alive and--there's ice cream in heaven!
Now, which do you think came first--the ice cream in heaven or the ice cream on earth? If the ice cream in heaven came first, and I can already have a foretaste of it here on earth, therefore, can I experience heaven on earth? Can I actually be happy with God, here and now, inspite of all the sufferings around me?
Maybe, I was daydreaming because I didn't have enough sleep last night. Maybe, Nellie was telling me to be happy and not to worry about anything. Or, maybe, I had a foretaste of heaven because I felt the outpouring of joy, peace and love from the Holy Spirit the whole day.
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