Happy Now!

Re-posted from April 2009. Thanking God that our friend Mike is happy now.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:3-5)

Nathan spent half his toddlerhood perched on an old chair in our living room. It was a green armchair—or, as he called it, a “geen keer”—where we sent Nathan when he was naughty. If he told Mommy no, or whacked his baby sister on the head with a toy truck, Nathan sat on the geen keer until he was ready to be kind.

Which was approximately 3.5 seconds.

“Kind now! I weady to be kind now!”

And once the punishment passed, and I no longer frowned and spoke sternly, Nathan would light up with a big smile and say, “Mommy happy now!”

When I praised him for picking up his toys, he’d point out that I was “happy now”. When Andy arrived home from work, and scooped him up for a hug, Nathan would yell, “Happy now!” And when I’d lift him from his crib after naptime, he’d hug my neck and holler, “I happy now!”

My most favorite “happy now” happened one evening just before bed. We were reading books, and Nathan brought me his picture Bible. He flipped to the end, and landed on a picture of God on heaven’s throne, surrounded by a rainbow. Nathan ooohhed and aaahhed as I described our future home. I put the story in his terms even more, telling him that he could sit on Jesus’ lap, and have cake and soda. Maybe those things weren’t in John’s revelation, but they certainly spell heaven to a toddler.Nathan absolutely exploded with joy. He jumped to his feet and marched around the room, pumping his little fists in the air and chanting, “Hap-py now! Hap-py now! Hap-py now!”

Revelation is a confusing book, and people much smarter than I have debated its meaning, and speculated on exactly what the end of time will be. But I think Nathan summed it up beautifully. On the day when I see Jesus—on the day when tears stop flowing and hearts stop aching, when mothers are reunited with the babies they never held, and when every doubt is instantly answered—then, in His forever-presence I will finally and completely be…happy now.