AS CHRISTIANS, we are called daily to impossible tasks. Among them is imagining the unimaginable. I misunderstand perfection if I believe that imperfections are what provide life its spice. This assertion might be true now, but here's the thing: We're not in heaven. When we fall down here, our knees get bloody and our shins get scuffed. When we lose something here, we grasp and cling to what we still have. We grow acutely aware of want and regret. These are moments with God.

It is not the place that matters; it is you. You are the jaded one; you're the one who needs the losing to admit your emptiness. Imagine you're different; imagine you don't have to lose to know. You're connected to a current so strong, you know it will carry you. For the first time, you trust freely.

If we don't really believe in heaven—believe in it so deeply that it captures our hopes and our dreams—then something is terribly wrong. Our foundation has slipped. Heaven teaches us how to live in time and how to live in our world. If we lose our vision of heaven, we lose our vision for today.

This devotion is adapted from an article in RELEVANT magazine.