I am reading C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity and cannot help but share some of the profound insights he presents...
He says, "When the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognise it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy... There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality."
And continues, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world... Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing."
He encourages us, on the one hand, to be thankful for these earthly blessings, but on the other, to understand that they are only a copy, or echo of "that other country".
I myself find this to be true, to resonate so deeply and clearly in my own heart and life. Even in the best possible experiences-- the best marriages, most excellent travel, most interesting learning-- something has evaded us. It is my desire for my true home, which I shall not find until after death. I must press on to that place. As a Christian, I was meant to look forward to eternity. Praise the Lord for this Hope!