My Eyes Will See and My Ears Will Hear (and My Nose Will Smell)

My senses let me down if I quit paying attention to them. Steve’s sense of smell is much more acute than mine, but when I listen to it, my nose speaks plenty loudly. I got out of the golf cart last night after spending an evening at a friend’s house and, for the second time yesterday, I was assaulted by the loveliest smells – the clematis vine blooming by the mail box and the gardenia bush getting ready to pop. Something else was contributing, but more on that later.

I’m studying a book on Heaven by Randy Alcorn with a group of ladies. My eyes open wider every time I read more about what’s going to await us on the New Earth. It’s exciting stuff and, more than ever before, I want to bring everyone along with me! The chapter I read today is about what our new, resurrected bodies will be like and whether we will have our same senses.

The author (and I) believe that, not only will we have them, but that they will be improved and amplified. One statement in particular caught my attention: “Will our eyes be able to function alternately as telescopes and microscopes?”

Understand, while this one statement sounds a little out there, this man does not believe a lot of what might sound outlandish, like our being able to fly or walk through walls. His opinion (and I think I agree) is that, even though Jesus was able to appear suddenly in a group of disciples (John 20:19) or “disappear” from the sight of the two disciples at Emmaus (Luke 24:31), these were qualities that could very well be an expression of His omnipresence and not necessarily qualities of a resurrected human body.

I wear contact lenses and for a while, I used the concept of “monovision” until I got my new and improved bifocal lenses. (Just a personal note: I am really looking forward to my new resurrected eyes!) Monovision happens when I wear one contact lens to help me with my farsightedness and leave my other very weak eye to account for my nearsightedness. And it works! My eyes adjust so that each eye does what it is supposed to do. And because of this experience, the whole “eyes as telescopes and microscopes” makes perfect sense to me and doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.

So my senses have been on my mind today. When Steve wanted to go out on the water, I couldn’t imagine a better time to put them to work. And God’s sweet creation did its work on my eyes, ears and nose. As we pulled away from the dock and moved down the canal on the way to the lift, I saw big turtles sunning themselves on the bank. Then as we made the turn, a beautiful great blue heron stood by the water enjoying the day. So majestic.

Fish were jumping full out of the water and an osprey flew over us. I sat reading my Heaven book as the boat gently rocked back and forth. The breeze has lost its winter edge but we’ve not yet entered that oppressive summer stillness. I sat smiling in utter and complete peace, thanking God for letting me live this close to paradise.

The rocking was not as wonderful for Steve, who was ready to head back. I was amazed to find out we had been on the water for two hours! I told him I’ll be reading and at peace whether on the water or the back porch. Then as we started back up the canal, the same great blue heron lifted out of the bank weeds and flew directly in front of us almost until we reached the dock! A treat for both my eyes and my heart.

We remarked about the purple irises growing in clusters on the banks. And as we drove the golf cart across the back yard and around to the front of the house, Steve shouted, “The magnolia tree! We have a bloom! No two!” As we came around the tree we both began shouting out numbers. We found eight blossoms clustered in one beautiful, fragrant bunch. My nose smiled.

Psalm 75:1; 79:13
We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near…So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, will give You thanks forever; we will show forth Your praise to all generations.