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A Page of Joy
How much would you pay for ‘A little bit of heaven’?
£30,000? £35,000? More? That’s how much we saw beach huts priced at in an Estate Agents window in Southwold.
Walking along the Front we viewed these 10’ X 12’ wooden huts, mostly gaily painted, though a few had seen better days and some were being given Tender Loving Care by busy carpenters, following the winter storms. They had names, ‘Our Place’, ‘Ma’s Bar’. One was even ‘Cross Keys’ with the said keys painted above the name. We smiled to think that the Lord Bishop of Peterborough MIGHT have a secret retreat!
It was a bright, sunny day, though a biting wind blew. Even so, contented owners of these little havens were sipping tea (or something!) in the shelter of their huts, all wrapped up against the cold.
I was amazed to see the prices that were being asked for the huts. I suppose for the Beckhams of this word £35,000 is peanuts, but the people we had seen just looked like ordinary work-a-day folk. What makes people happy to pay so much for so little?
Well, for a start, it’s not ‘so little’ to them. It’s peace, happiness, contentment, a return to the blissfully innocent days of childhood perhaps; the setting aside the stresses and concerns of everyday life, even for a few hours.
Words I’ve already used ---- retreat, haven, would be used by them I’m sure, along with the Estate Agents ‘Little bit of heaven’.
So ---rambling on, what price Heaven? The Real Thing I mean.
For us to be able to stand a cat-in-h--- (whoops, sorry, wrong phrase!) --- any chance at all of eternally dwelling in the presence of God (aka Heaven) we can only rely on His mercy.
We cannot ‘buy our way in’ by good deeds, charitable giving, or acts of kindness.
We could lead blameless lives, devoid of all possessions and we’d not be within a gnat’s whisker of pushing open The Pearly Gates.
Heaven is GODS GIFT TO US, a gift of love, by love, for love, in love, and God paid the price of this gift, in Jesus Christ, and claims us as His own, because of this love --- FOR US!
It is in total amazement and gratitude that we are compelled to respond to this gift, by acts of worship, obedience, kindness etc.
This is the response of the leaper returning to thank Jesus for healing him of his disease.
If YOU want a haven of peace and renewal, setting aside for half an hour the bustle of the world, try a weekday Mass, sharing, giving, receiving ‘A Little Bit of HEAVEN’
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