Tears filled my heart as I smoothed back my mother’s hair. Tears of sadness for the pain that immobilized her in bed. Tears of gratitude that I could care for the practical needs of the one who had sacrificed so much to care for mine. And tears of grief that this one who had always been there for me, loving me, mentoring me, and praying for me, was growing frail.

When once-straight shoulders stoop with pain and when weakness crushes those who were so strong, I lament the loss. But I find hope when I view life as one long line that starts at conception and stretches into eternity. We don’t just live here a few decades and then die. Instead, if we follow Jesus, we live on Earth now, and when we die, we move to Heaven, like moving to another country.

But when my parents move to Heaven, I won’t be able to talk with them until I join them there. I will miss them. I might live 40 more years here on Earth without contact with them. No letters. No phone calls. No visits. That’s much harder than if they moved to another part of the world. And yet, I have hope and joy that I will see them again in my lifetime because my life doesn’t end in death.

If I see life before and after death as a continual timeline, then this time on Earth is not my whole life. It is only the first part. These short years are preparation for my move to Heaven. There, I will continue my life in fullness and joy, without darkness, evil, and pain seeking to pull me down.

The purpose of my life is to love God and others. I choose joy and contentment in all God gives me to do, and I seek to praise Him and live for His eternal kingdom. I don’t just offer Him these few years of health and strength and then “go downhill” until death stops my life. Instead, I fade into glory.

This “fading” means becoming more like Him and less saturated with life here. Even as my body grows old and fills with death, my soul becomes increasingly filled with life as I prepare for my move to Heaven.

With this perspective, I don’t have a sense of my time “running out” here on Earth—my time before I retire, my time before my body starts failing, my time before I die. And I don’t need to dread saying “see you later” to my parents when they move to Heaven because I know I will see them again when I, too, move there.

So, I seek to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love others as I love myself. And I look forward to moving day!