The golden sky shone like a gem reflecting colors that I didn’t have a name for. The ground I was walking on was green. At least, I thought it was green. It looked like a green, but, again it reflected colors I had never seen or heard of before. The closer I looked, the more colorful things got, not the other way around. Far in the distance I could see a gigantic sea that looked like glass with the way it reflected light. If it was glass, it was a type of glass I had never even imagined, because it was liquid. The foam on the top of the waves was brilliant and seemed to even have a light of its own. Behind me a herd of an animal I had never heard of was grazing. They had horns like a deer branching out randomly and gracefully ending in a point. Their face was something like a horse’s but much more graceful and intelligent. In a single glance, their eyes expressed more than language ever could. Their legs were strong, almost like a bull’s, but they moved so smoothly that you couldn’t imagine them being slow. Their fur was a color that was hard to distinguish. At times I would say that it was blue or black, but other times I might call it white or gold. It seemed to change color every time they shifted, making it truly hard to distinguish their true color. I don’t think I would have gotten bored of looking at them for the rest of my life, which could be forever in a place like this.
I looked back at the sea and saw a vast sun setting on the horizon. The rays that it threw caught the clouds in the sky with such a variety of colors I was amazed. The sky looked like a watercolor painting in which the artist threw every available color into streams that merged and mixed all the time. I stared and, strangely enough, the sun did not sink farther, instead, it just hung there on the horizon, a huge flaming ball of dazzling color. I couldn’t imagine any artist ever being able to capture that image on canvas or even with a camera. I even believe that my own words are insufficient to describe it.
I walked along the edge of the sea, whose beautiful sound and light never ceased to amaze me. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore has always held an appeal for me, but these waves only intensified that appeal. As far as I could tell, the waves didn’t sound different, but I still felt even more fascinated by these glass waves than I did by any others I had seen. The sand under my feet was smooth and cool. I looked behind me and saw my footprints stretching into oblivion. Had I really walked that far? I didn’t honestly know. Time seemed to not exist in this place. I could focus on what fascinated me for as long as I liked without having to worry about anything else.
In the distance in front of me, I saw a huge building. It was made out of a stone that seemed to shift colors like the skins of the animals I had seen so long ago, but still fresh in my memory. The building had many towers ending in points sticking up at seemingly random spacing. As strange as that sounds, it really didn’t seem out of place. If anything, it gave it an even more appealing and interesting look. From where I was, I guessed it was about five miles wide and maybe twice that amount up. I don’t know. I just know it was gigantic to be a single structure.
When I finally reached the gates, they seemed to be made out of pure pearl. The pearl was strange, though. It too seemed to shimmer and change colors all the time. They were open and I walked in. Suddenly it dawned on me. I hadn’t seen a single other person for the entire time I had been here. A place like this had to have been built by someone. I walked into the courtyard of that beautiful palace. At the far end of the courtyard was a door even bigger than the gate I had just come through. But this door was closed. I knew I wouldn’t be able to open a door of that size, but I walked up to it anyway. On the door there was a huge inscription that said, “Enter.”
I was perplexed. How could someone my size open a door that humungous. Just out of curiosity, I pushed on the door. To my surprise, the door swung open at the lightest touch of my finger. I peeked into the huge room that, to my surprise again, was not dark, but even lighter than outside. It was so bright that I had to squint to see what was in the room. Even like that I couldn’t see anything. I walked in and stared at the wonder around me. If I had thought that the other stones outside changed colors in the light, these were even more so. The outside rocks seemed to merge from one color to another. These jumped between colors so suddenly that my attention was held by every rock at the same time. Well, that was what it was like for a split second. After that, I saw the throne at the end of the room.
The throne seemed to be made of solid gold. It was different from everything else because it didn’t change color with the light, yet drew your attention even stronger than the other stones. Sitting on the throne was the person I knew I would meet here someday. His crown was a series of rainbows wrapped around each other in such a pattern that it could not be followed. His eyes were fire that I could not endure to look at. His robe also did not shimmer between colors, except for white and red. At times the entire thing would look red, at others it would be completely white.
I couldn’t stay on my feet before Him. I fell down to the floor and lay prone. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t think of anything but worshipping Him who was on the Throne. Finally, he spoke. His voice sounded like thunder so powerful it could break me. I could feel it reverberate throughout the room.
“Rise.” He said commanding me.
When I looked around me, I saw thousands, if not millions of people looking on from the sides. They hadn’t been there before. To my surprise, I recognized many of them. They were smiling and laughing quietly, urging me on. Finally, I got the courage to look at the Throne. Though I was unworthy, he was smiling at me.
“Well done,” He said with his voice of raw power. “Enter into the joy of your LORD.”
With that, I saw a young boy run from behind the throne straight towards me. I didn’t recognize him, but I knew I loved him from the very day I was born. He was a child, but I knew he was older than I would ever hope to be. He ran straight into my arms and hugged me tight. I wrapped my arms around him trying to show the intensity of my love. He put his mouth close to my ear and said, “I love you very much.”
In that instant, my entire life meant something. That was the only phrase I needed to hear. Nothing else mattered anymore. My Savior had told me that he loved me. Me! Who was nothing more than a common person hardly worthy of His notice. The boy, who I now knew to be Jesus, stepped away and looked me in the eyes.
“You were always worthy of my notice.” He said seriously. “Always.”
With that, a mob of people swarmed over to where I was. I recognized every single one of them and hugged them all. The happiness and joy of meeting long-lost friends or family members cannot be rivaled by anything I knew before. I was where I had been meant to be my entire life. Nothing else needed to change. I had reached Paradise.
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