Like heaven, only smaller.

I look at the pictures again, and the memories come with them.
Then comes my smile.
I can't help it - when I see their smiles, mine appears from nowhere.

I miss it -
The lush green beauty of it all,
The amazing creation of nature surrounding us and following us everywhere.
The cool rain that came nearly every afternoon, like floods from the heavens...
You know the song "Grace Like Rain"?
The person who wrote that must have been to Costa Rica, because Your grace wouldn't be comparable to a few drops of water from the American sky.

The children.
Oh, Lord, the children.
Their smiles. Their laughter.
Their music.

It has to be what heaven sounds like, only smaller.
I am a musician, and I have performed and studied music for more than six years now.
But the sound that came together in that house was more amazing than anything I've heard before.
I couldn't hear anything wrong with their singing.
Sure, it wasn't at the same musical level as some songs I've sang and heard, but...
It was beautiful.
It was stunning.
It was heavenly.

They simply sang for You.
They sang for us,
abandoning all fears and timidity;
abandoning their hearts to You.

I didn't know the words they sang,
But I spoke the same language -
Your language.

I wonder if that's how You hear us when we sing to You.
You know there are imperfections, but You find our voices beautiful.
You ignore the imperfections of our voices, like You can't hear them.
You just hear the praise.

It must be like heaven.
Voices gathered together in praise -
Joyful, jubilant praise,
Stretching to You in streams as dense as the rain that falls from Your hands.

Yes, it must be like heaven.
Only heaven will be infinite times bigger.

I can almost hear their voices, ringing pure and clear.
I can't wait to hear them along with all the others.