“I’ll be Looking for You”

Shortly before my wife Darlene died in October 2010, we were talking after our final visit with her oncologist. This is how I described it later.

On our drive home, we had one of the more significant conversations of our lives. We probably talked about small matters and medical decisions part of the way home, but I started a heavier conversation by sharing a thought that had come to me that week.

“If you think about just the span of human history, let alone all the time in eternity, it won’t be long before I will follow you,” I said.

She was listening closely.

“I’ll be looking for you,” she replied.

I have often thought about what she said that day, “I’ll be looking for you.”

She meant she would be looking for me in the place where she was going in death. I believe she will be looking for me when I die, as she said. I envision her finding me. We will hug and kiss. We will hold hands and go to see Jesus.

She will be looking for me, and I also believe she sees me now from where she is. We don’t know what separates this world from the next, so it’s possible she does see me now. Of course, she can see only good things on earth. She’s in heaven, and no illness, death, or sin can enter heaven. I often feel she is here with me. So when something especially good happens here, I just quietly say to her, “Did you see that?”

Then I see her clapping her hands as she often did in especially happy moments, and I feel sure she sees from where she is now so happy. I look forward to seeing her there.

We don’t know what separates our lives on earth from the lives of our loved ones in heaven. If we wait faithfully, all of that will be revealed to us. We probably will see the earth from heaven.