"Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?"

The picture I took of an altarpiece at the Louvre three years ago didn't focus clearly enough, but this image I found via Google gives you the idea (the page didn't give me any details about artist or location, sorry)... But you can see the feet of Christ rising up into the air, and Mary and the apostles watching him go. I had never seen the Ascension depicted that way before, and it made me laugh out loud.

And I imagine the two men in white being similarly amused as they stood near the group and asked, "Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? (Acts 1:11)

It's an apt question, even today. For some reason, for many people, heaven is a place "up there," and God is a person "up there." I suspect that the deeper meaning of the angels' question could be construed to be, Why do you look up to find God? Do you not see that God is present all around you, all the time? In the people that cross your path, the environment that surrounds you, the creation that God has given to please your eye, from the smallest flower to the vast starry skies? Do you not recognize God's presence in beauty, goodness, harmony, justice, kindness, passion, peace, truth and unconditional love?

Heaven isn't just the sky that received Christ on the day of his Ascension. It's part of daily life here and now, if only we can recognize it. So instead of looking up to the sky, I think I'll use all my senses to find my own little pieces of heaven, to see God's love in my days this week -- to look into the eyes of someone who loves me, to listen to the song of the birds early in the morning, to enjoy the fragrance of a lilac tree, the rich flavour of my morning coffee, and the warmth and comfort of my bed at night. If not for God, would any of it exist? And would I know enough to see it as God's love for me?

Where will you look for God and heaven today?