Wow! It’s been one of those kind of weeks where it’s been a struggle to get anything done – just so busy. So, that explains why it’s Thursday, and I’m just now getting around to the hymn that’s been in my head the last couple of days.

My heart (understandably) often turns to thoughts of Heaven these days. I woke up with this song in my mind the other day and have been singing it ever since. We can’t even imagine a life without pain, suffering, death. But God has promised us just such an existence. In his last letter to me my husband said that the life he is living now (referring to the fact that he would be in Heaven when I read the letter) was beyond all imagination. So true. 

God promised us, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 There is so much comfort in knowing that some day we will not have to face suffering, death, aging, good-byes, tears.

This song was written in 1914. The author had been away at Bible college and when he came home to his home church he was struck by the changes in the people – some had died, others had aged. On returning to school he pondered on what the Bible says about Heaven and this song is the result.

I have heard of a land on the faraway strand,
’Tis a beautiful home of the soul;
Built by Jesus on high, where we never shall die,
’Tis a land where we never grow old.

Refrain:
Never grow old, never grow old,
In a land where we’ll never grow old;
Never grow old, never grow old,
In a land where we’ll never grow old.

In that beautiful home where we’ll never more roam,
We shall be in the sweet by and by;
Happy praise to the King through eternity sing,
’Tis a land where we never shall die.

When our work here is done and the life-crown is won,
And our troubles and trials are o’er;
All our sorrow will end, and our voices will blend,
With the loved ones who’ve gone on before.

~James C. Moore