Knowing heaven is what heals us on earth.
We are not expecting Utopia here on this earth. But God meant things to be much easier than we have made them.
Earth is embittered to us, that heaven may be endeared.
Because of the inherent challenges of life on the earth, all of humanity is vulnerable. This is all the more reason to seek the kingdom of heaven within and find the peace that leads to understanding.
I didn't want tunes that preach heaven: you know, life on Earth is bad and heaven is the only hope we have. I don't quite care for that. I mean, when people sing that stuff, it's good when they do it, but I didn't want to do it.
How will you know the difficulties of being human, if you are always flying off to blue perfection? Where will you plant your grief seeds? Workers need ground to scrape and hoe, not the sky of unspecified desire.
Excuse my mistakes, realize my limitations. Life is not easy as we know it on the earth.
Today we no longer regard the universe as the cause of our own undeserved troubles but perhaps, on the contrary, as the last refuge from the mismanagement of our earthly affairs.
All our afflictions, all our temptations are to make heaven more desirable, and earth more loathsome.
God's heavenly plan doesn't always make earthly sense.
