Bacon and Heaven and my mom....

I had a whole plan for today's post.

I had been planning it since yesterday afternoon.

I HAD A PLAN!

And then Liz met me in the kitchen this morning with my mom's charm bracelet...and she started asking questions about her grandmother. Now my heart is all tender and I my plans are dashed yet again.

To make matters all the more tender, I looked at my friend, Missy's pictures from her beautiful daughter Ciara's confirmation. Missy's dad was Ciara's sponsor...and he looks so much like my own dad, that again, I got all tender hearted in missing my folks.

Missy knows what it feels like. She lost her mom way to young like me. I know there was a moment as she helped her young lady get ready for her big moment, that Missy thought, "Mom would have been so proud." or "Mom would have been wild about you, Ciara." or maybe even, "Mom would have made me crazy today!" No matter the thought, I know her mom's memory visited the special day...

But just as odd is how it can creep up on you, on a seemingly un-eventful Friday morning. Every once in a while it smacks at you: How could my own children and dear friends not know Ed and Ellen, my parents? I mean honestly how could that be? That charm bracelet that Liz wears, my dad bought mom because he was a crazy romantic and bought her gifts as he wined and dined her. Sigh...

The thing is, our children know more of the legacy of our folks then we realize. My girls know Mom in the way I make chicken cutlets a little too dry, 'cause "better dry chicken then salmonella!" as she use to say. They know her as they see my relentless pursuit to know our God...Mom was THE CCD teacher to every confirmation candidate in Christ the King parish in the late '70's and early '80's. She loved the Lord with all her heart, soul and mind...I pray my kids can say the same of me.

Dad was a big part of our lives until his death in 2005...only Maggie has but a glimpse of his memory. The rest of them have wonderful stories of the love he showed them. And they will always know when the "spirit of Ed" is upon me, because chances are I am tickling them, tearing down a wall or saying something to embarrass them. I declared church an "Ed free zone" at some point in my teens. I refused to sit with him any longer...the things he would say in a not so hushed whisper were enough to send any child into complete dis~ownership of the man!

Where are they? I have the assurance of Heaven for those who accept Christ. I hope that means that they are smelling bacon right now...

Ah-ha! I found a way to marry my tender heart to what I planned!

Yes, Heaven smells like bacon. There now you know for sure. Because I told you so and I have the biblical proof to stand on....

Leviticus 11 warns on clean vs. unclean meats for the Hebrew people...they were forbidden to eat pork. Still true today for those who live by a kosher diet. We even have good scientific reason for avoiding it like trichinosis. I've even read a few studies about how we just can't digest pork properly.

I guess it all boils down to the fact that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial, just like Paul tells us.

But I think there may be another reason God was saving the pork...He was simply saving the bacon for Heaven.

Now I am not trying to add a word to God's Word. We are not allowed to do that. But I do think that some things are evident by implication.

Think about it, are you going to tell me that when Sara came out of that tent, you know the one Abraham sent her into as a concubine 'cause he was all a~scared of the king...you go ahead and tell me that when she came out that she DIDN'T call him a jerk. Tell me that you can't just let your holy imagination go and almost hear her laying him out on the camel hair carpet for all that nonsense.

But again, that is another post for another day. Today it is the implication of bacon. You see, it is okay for we gentiles to eat bacon because we are a Heavenly people...we are covered under the new covenant and therefore we get a "taste" of Heaven because we get a taste of the bacon.

No one can convince me otherwise...Heaven smells like bacon.

Be blessed all. If you have your folks, call 'em or give 'em a hug. Maybe make them a BLT...between us, we'll know all that the bacon implies.

Trust me, you will miss them when they are gone. Gotta run. Oscar Myer bacon is on sale this week at the Shoprite, gotta' get my fill here, dirt side!