By: Rev. Steven P Gunther
I remember being middle-school-aged and thinking a lot about what life in heaven must be like. I really wanted to understand the specifics of how things were laid out, what life was like, how it differed from life on earth and how it was similar. One teaching I remember standing out to me was that heaven is in perpetual springtime. At the time, I thought that sounded kind of bogus. I loved the summer and the fall, so would I be unhappy in heaven where it’s permanently in a state of spring? Why would the Lord have chosen spring in particular for His kingdom?
Now that I’m older, I find myself worrying less and less about the specifics of the afterlife, but every year as we pass the vernal equinox and enter spring (which we did last Friday) I think about the idea of perpetual springtime and I think I’m starting to get it. There is a lot about springtime that can help us get a sense of what heavenly joy and peace are.
We are told in Divine Love and Wisdom n. 105 that a “...reason that the spiritual world's sun appears at a middle height above the angelic heaven is that this results in a constant springtime for all the angelic heavens. Consequently, angels are in a state of peace, for this state corresponds to springtime on earth.” I particularly love the second part of this quote – that a state of peace in heaven corresponds to springtime on earth. Spring isn’t just a time of year when the weather starts warming up, it’s a state of peace.
Spring can be viewed as our deliverance from the dark and cold of winter. After making it through what are for many people the most difficult months of the year, we finally start to feel warmth, see plants and trees growing again, and feel free to go outside and move easily. It’s a season of growth and transition. Every day is getting longer, plants are waking up and beginning to grow, but many haven’t reached full maturity yet. This reminds us that life (yes, even spiritual life in heaven) isn’t static – there is always more ways for us to grow, learn, and deepen our relationship with the Lord.
So, as we begin to transition into springtime in our natural lives, I invite all of us to think about the ways that spring reminds us of our spiritual path. Just as the days in spring get longer every day, so do our states of peace every time we make it through a spiritual trial. Just as spring invites life, growth, and warmth, so does the Lord invite us into the light, warmth, and joy of His Divine love and wisdom. While I still love all four of our earthly seasons, I’m learning more and more how nice a life of perpetual springtime would feel.