Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven ... Start Planting the Seeds Now

One of the dearest friends I have to this day I had the blessing of meeting in high school, so we’ve seen our friendship grow in the expected ways as we matured and hit big milestones, but also by our deepened, or renewed for my case, faith in Jesus Christ. Our conversations changed from wedding prep to first time mom struggles, to moving and what season of running we were in (e.g. training vs dread-milling). Then a couple of years ago, our chats started revolving more around faith, actively talking about God and at the time it felt foreign - to me and between us, but seemed and felt totally comfortable to her. She filled in the gaps for me, effectively reeducating me in the faith we were taught and raised by, and now seemed fully enveloped in, truly living it. She planted the seed, watering every so often with 30 minute telephone calls a few times a year and prayed for me; even when I didn’t give her, or God, a second thought. Once again, He delivered a long game win with twists and turns we didn’t see coming - and couldn’t, but had to endure in order to meet where we are now. Not only could I fill many pages and blog posts about the fun, happy, deeply spiritual and life changing chats I’ve had with her, but I won’t do that to you all (for now). Besides, I have to spread the love and I have too many people I need to shower with praise and light roasts! Now her dad had a very cool job in the near distant past (not even facetious, the job was definitely clout worthy) and she told me her dad could use this cool job to get Kenny Chesney to play at her graduation party. I promise I gave her my best deadpan, furrowed brow face at the time. I guess she saw it, because that was followed by, “well maybe not Kenny Chesney but definitely someone like Lonestar”. The divide between all time country star Kenny Chesney and the steakhouse restaurant with the smash hit Amazed aka Lonestar is as funny today as it was then. You have to admire the bold confidence of your youth and never let someone forget it, no matter how unrelated or inconsequential it may seem at the time. 

Kenny Chesney fans and even non fans have probably heard the song “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven”, which is a bop and you should listen to it anyway on principle. But the last three lines of the song really capture the growing pain I’ve been struggling with now that I’ve totally restructured my focus around Jesus and trying to live according to God’s will rather than my own. 

Everybody wants to go to heaven, 

but nobody wants to go now

I think I speak for the crowd 

We keep assuming we have so much time and God willing we will. Recent events have proven otherwise and I doubt anyone is a stranger to sudden or unexpected loss in their lives. I realized I was part of the crowd Kenny Chesney is serenading us about and while it is still the case that I want to go to heaven and not right this moment, I need to start living and raising my family to live the way that will get us to heaven. When we think we have time, we put things off. The ‘we’ here are the procrastinators. Maybe you’re part of that KC crowd too and maybe you’ve been living a pretty decent life on the whole, I think that’d be a fair assumption for myself and most of the people around us. The assassination of Charlie Kirk was sadly the catalyst for yet another spiritual awakening for myself but appears for many others as well. Only if we capitalize on this moment, pray for the courage of our convictions, and the strength to hold firm on our beliefs and values in the wake of a relentless secular culture - will we be able to change the crowd around us from not just wanting to go to heaven eventually, but living every day as if the next were your last before meeting our Lord. That kind of topic will get a party started! 

While this doesn’t make for the best small talk and even though I’m writing about it, I’d be spooked if someone I didn’t know started peppering me with questions about dying tomorrow and if I was ready to meet our lord and savior Jesus Christ. Even saying ‘buy me dinner first’ doesn’t feel right here, even though it’s definitely what I would say in real life if that happened. But while I have you, why not kick this around a little bit 🙂 The quiet moments I’ve had over the past several months have allowed me to think more deeply, for longer periods, and with further reaching implications than I was before. So, someone has to reap those benefits besides me! You wouldn't think I have many quiet moments or long durations of thinking with two yowling girls, but the Lord finds time if you make it for Him. Having children has allowed me to see things beyond just myself, given almost another dimension to life and therefore gives me some real stakes in the world I want them to live in. I never thought about that very much before, I just assumed we’d all move along in our lives from one trend to the next and stay up to date with the latest advances. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of modern technology, anyone who likes not to melt in the summertime can thank central air conditioning - present writer included. However, since staying home and now starting homeschooling pre-k with my four year old, I’ve seen how easily my actions and our surroundings influence their behavior and environment. It is all the more incumbent upon me to live and extol the values and virtues I want to teach them and hope to see them live out. I’m responsible for planting the right(eous) seeds, nurturing and watching over them, praying they will grow strong in their faith and rooted in the courage to defend it. But all of this fancy talk is nothing if I don’t model it for them to see it in action, live my faith. It is a sacrifice to do this and there is a lot of uncertainty, but that is the beauty of surrendering to God - it is in His hands. That doesn’t absolve my duty to be responsible or prudent, but I can feel a measure of peace and ease that we are going to be just fine that I have never felt before. 

We’ve had a lot of ‘firsts’ over this past year and a lot of them required much more patience, faith, prayer, practice and just plain old time than I’ve been used to. Gardening and raising chickens really teaches you the value of putting the work in over days to weeks to months before you see any real progress. Anyone who knows me has had to suffer the day 2 doubts and quitter loser talk from me, only to share in my crazed joy when I saw my first green bean and chicken egg. I’ve talked about the instant and immediate gratification culture we are living through and I’m sure that point will wear out its welcome. But until then- you’ll just have to hear my thoughts on it. I’ve been humbled to (re-)learn that there are still so many things that just take time, trust, hard work and a little bit of ~give it up to God~ faith. I couldn’t see the seeds taking root, how the water nurtured and enriched the soil for them to grow, or even the first bean to burst through on the vine. I had to stay consistent, realistic, and just keep going. That doesn’t come naturally to me and I get discouraged easily, especially when I don’t see any results or SOMETHING to tell me what I’m doing is worthwhile. But that was precisely what I needed to experience, so I could learn the lessons of patience, perseverance, fortitude, consistency, and the simplest of all - hard work. The hardest lesson to learn is that sometimes you will work your ask off and still fail, or still have bum broccoli plants that never yield any crops. That is devastating and you are allowed to weep. But after that, start again! Having to learn and re-learn some basic life lessons in the company of my children has been an incredible experience, because not only am I able to grow in front of them, but use the opportunities to show them rather than just tell them. They are learning valuable lessons abstractly, like patience and routines, but also in tangible ways by growing their own food, seeing the ‘local ecosystem’, and how that serves our family and home. That is not something I would have wanted for them, not because it was bad or useless, but because it wasn’t even on my radar. Now, I pray we have the opportunity to continue raising them here and teaching them durable, lasting life lessons. 

Chicks catching some rays during recess

The same work I’ve been putting into my fledgling farm (4 chickens and some porch plants) is similar to the work I’ve been putting into my faith. There have been plenty of days that felt too heavy, times I’ve felt like a failure, worried about how I’m going to keep it all together all while on display for my children. “Endure your trials as discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?” Hebrews 12: 7-8. In yet another unexpected way, Jesus has given me the tools to use when the cross gets too heavy. Meaning, the routines and schedules I’ve put in place will carry me through the more challenging times or even just the dull times. Not all disappointments are due to hardships, sometimes it's hard to just be bored or not have anything to look forward to. But the reality is- life will get boring sometimes, there will not always be something exciting going on or upcoming trips planned or new things to buy when they come out. I’ve learned to appreciate building the routines, seeing what works and what doesn’t, a new sense of pride in sticking with what is working and learning to let go of the hustle and timelines I put on myself or our family. This mindset shift, which was done over time and sometimes through tears (read: plenty), has also completely reset the goalposts for the value of work, pushing through the mundane, and enjoying the simplicity of just spending time together. Savoring more than just brief smiles but actually full afternoons of laughter, patience for the meltdowns, quick rebound when there’s bickering and gas left in the tank for a nightcap with my husband. These experiences now fill more of my memories than ever before, which doesn’t negate the challenging times (not possible this side of heaven) but it does give me more protection for dealing with the darkness from the valleys. “Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactic of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heaven” Ephesians 6:11-12. 

I have some of the best people on planet earth that are part of my crowd. Admittedly biased, but I would hope everyone shares that bias and only wants to brag about how wonderful the people around them are. I’ve been blessed with a strong and dependable network of family and friends that have encouraged and supported every endeavor I’ve pursued. The debt of gratitude I owe so many people in my life is immeasurable, but one way I can return the favor is by (trying to): never forget to pray for them. Day to day we ask people how they are doing and half listen to the answer, half hope they don’t answer and I’m guilty of this too. “They” is usually any person beyond a third degree of separation, for me anyway. But I am genuinely interested when it comes to my best friends, sisters, family, and church community. When they have an issue or something big going on in their life, I want to be as helpful as possible from the safest distance away. Now that I’ve started seeing life through the lens of Christ, it’s changed how I feel for those closest to me and thus others around me in everyday life. Over the past year, I have read several books and listened to many, many podcasts on the Catholic faith in general, with a lot of them focused on how you can incorporate your faith into the culture organically. One of the pretty consistent themes in all of the material, including in the scriptures, is the emphasis on friendship and community. God created man to be a social creature and not to be alone (Genesis 3:18), which can be our greatest strength or greatest weakness. How much better could I serve those in my community, including those closest to me and mean the most to me, if I prayed for them but also prayed for their relationship with God? If I’m going to build my henpire, then I’m going to have to start planting the right(eous) seeds of our Savior with my brood. Too much? NEVER ENOUGH! Just like the prayers I vow to say for my crowd who wants to go to heaven, now or later. 

If you or someone you know wants to go to heaven, call 1-800-Jesus Christ. That felt like the right line to use here … but please do give Him a call and say hello.