I’ll be halfway to heaven with Paradise waitin’/ Just five miles away from wherever I am

From John Prine’s “Paradise“

What if paradise is not 5 miles away from wherever we are? What if paradise is inside us? (I know in the midst of all that is to even contemplate we are living in paradise might be a bridge too far. Let me explain.) Paradise can be created with the ease of a decision and loving action. Paradise can be created by paying attention and intentional breath. Just the thought that paradise is here and now brings tears to my eyes. Everything feels so heavy, thinking about paradise like that, letting that thought seep into my bones, feels soft and loving and reassuring.

I remember when I was taught that heaven is living in the presence of God. That makes sense to me when I think about awe and miracles and wonder and amazement and dreams. That makes sense to me when I am surrounded in the knowing that I am not alone, even in my saddest, darkest, lost moments. That makes sense when I feel the small quiet connections I make with my world.

I think of paradise like I think of heaven. Paradise is here. Paradise in the complexity and depth of home is here. Paradise in all the falling apart and coming together is here. Paradise in all its beauty and cruelty is here. Paradise in all its silence and noise is here. Paradise in all its creation and destruction is here. Paradise in all its cushion and wood is here. Paradise in all its roots and buds is here.

Here’s what I know for sure. I know we have to look for paradise to find it. I know we have to keep moving toward the hot in life’s hot and cold test to feel it. I know we have to open lots of doors and windows to let it breathe through us. I know we have to shed tears of all types to talk to it, in that way tears are the words of our spirits. I know for sure paradise does not have to stay five miles away.