Today, while putting away my Christmas decorations, I was watching one of my favorite movies: “Finding Neverland”. This is James Barrie, the Scottish author who created Peter Pan. In the film, he befriends the widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her four children. He becomes so fascinated with children, since he has no children of his own, that he creates the play, Peter Pan.
As Sylvia and James get to know each other, he begins to tell her about Neverland. With dreamy eyes, she listens to him, imagining the wonders of him. At the time, she is sick with an inoperable cancer that makes her cough and prevents her from attending the premiere of Peter Pan. So James does the next best thing…she brings the play to his house that same night, and the actors re-enact it for her. At the perfect moment, the backdrop rises, once a wall in his house, and beyond it is Neverland in all its glory, with fairies laughing and fluttering, Captain Hook and his cronies, and fantastical creatures in a beautiful scenery. Sylvia, in a trance, gets up and crosses the room and enters Neverland. It is the last time we see her in the film.
every time i look Finding Neverland, a longing rises in my heart. I think it’s because as a Christian, I have my own Never Land to look forward to, except that it’s the eternal land, aka heaven. God has placed a longing for heaven in our hearts, because we are meant to be there for all eternity. It is an incredible realm of astonishing colour, beauty and majesty, where fantastical creatures dwell, dazzling angels fly and the King of Kings in all his splendor awaits us to welcome us with open arms.
And just like Neverland, Heaven is meant for children and the young at heart.
And he called a child and placed him before them, and said, Truly I say to you, unless you convert and become like little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2-3)
The word “converted” in this verse comes from the Greek word “strepho” which means “to turn around, to change, to alter, to take another course, to go back.” But what I find interesting about this verse is that Jesus no say: “Unless You turn into and become like children…” but rather “unless you are converted“, which implies that Hears it makes the conversion in us, and not in ourselves. Jesus will convert us to ourselves as little children, forever, before we enter the kingdom.
I believe that in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered the scene, Adam and Eve were like children. They were very intelligent with very sharp minds, but they had nothing to worry about, nothing to fear, and everything to enjoy. Laughter came easily to them, and with their new bodies, they could run, jump, and climb effortlessly, and with perfect eyesight, they could see the exquisite detail in every leaf, insect, and animal. They could look out into the clear water and see the rainbow-colored fish frolicking, and they could dive in and swim with them, because they weren’t afraid of the fish, and the fish weren’t afraid of them. They were not afraid of death because it did not exist. And God was there, pouring out love beyond imagination, and talking and laughing with them.
The Garden of Eden was a picture of heaven, and Adam and Eve were a picture of what we will be like when we get there. We will be converted-returned-to our child state, in order to enter. This does not mean that we will be ignorant, but rather that we will be humble, pure, cheerful, cheerful, playful, loving, trusting, open, adventurous and full of wonder. We will be like we were before mortgage payments, responsibility, pain, illness, emotional pain, stress, and anger entered our lives.
God wants us to long for heaven, our own Foreverland. He wants us to look forward, not back. He wants us to try to visualize it, so that when the going gets tough, we can see past this fallen world and into the next. When it seems that the world, or our own four walls, are closing in on us, we can close our eyes and imagine that our walls have become a backdrop that suddenly rises, and there, beyond, is Foreverland, and right in the middle, the Lord Jesus, in brilliant white robes, smiling at us and beckoning us in. And when we pass from this world to Foreverland, He reaches out and takes our hands, and suddenly, we feel changed: younger, lighter, freer, happier, stronger, wilder… kind of like we used to be. when we were kids. We become ourselves forever, and suddenly feel more alive than ever before.
The next time a longing for heaven stirs in your heart, surrender to it. He closes his eyes and lets your mind go wild. Jesus will meet you there.