Ghosts

Prompt: If we assume ghosts are real, what type of ghost would you like to see?

I don't believe in ghosts.  I do believe in spirits--good and bad--but not the spirits of the dead returned to visit us.  This is pretty standard Seventh-day Adventist doctrine.  We are a rather materialist bunch when it comes to matters of death and the soul.  Our belief that a God of love does not preside over an everlasting hell makes not believing in the immortal soul a matter of necessity.

But for the sake of this prompt, I'm going to assume for a moment that ghosts are real. But first a couple of necessary caveats.  My assumption is still going to be based on a God of love.  And there are a number of things about ghosts the way most people think of them that I'm going to dispense with:

First off, in my ghost world, ghosts are not creepy.  I'm not sure what it is about grandma who was such a nice, sweet woman when she was alive suddenly becomes this unsettling presence who only shows up at night, never says a word, knocks books off the shelf and such.  This doesn't make sense to me.  Ghosts of people we loved ought to be friendly--like Casper--not spooky.  They ought to be able to show up in the daytime rather than freaking us out at  night.  And they ought to be able to talk.  And if grandma used to get on me for knocking things over, she's not going to start doing it herself now that she's passed on.  I think it's telling that the preponderance of ghost stories are scary, not comforting.  It's like people across cultures understand that something is not quite right about this spirits of the dead business (and of course we Adventists have a ready answer as to why we might find visitations from the dead so unnerving).

Second, in my ghost world, my ghost wouldn't be just wandering about.  Presuming a God of love and still presuming that he won't be tormenting lost souls for eternity, only the saved could be ghosts.  Those not bound for heaven would simply cease to exist, body and soul.  So all ghosts would be good.  There would be no ghosts of dead ax-murderers.  Also, all my ghosts would be happy since they would reside in heaven with the Lord most of the time and only occasionally visit earth.  There would be no crying babies or weeping mothers haunting places seeking closure or consolation.  There would be no poltergeists causing mischief.  All of these characters seem more devilish than anything else (and again, I think there's a reason for that).

So there are no "kind" of ghosts.  There are just people and of course it's not hard to pick who I'd want to see.

I once had a dream that Dad came back. I remember that he was sitting in the Leen's living room on the couch, not his usual chair and I remember knowing that he wouldn't be able to stay.  In my ghost world the visit would be something like that dream. I imagine that my  father-in-law and my grandparents would have become good friends in heaven and that they would visit us together.   Being the polite sort, they wouldn't just show up unannounced.  Maybe they'd appear in a dream or leave a note of some sort to let us know when they'd like to drop by.

When they arrived, at least for the first visit, I would barely recognize them.  I've known them all of my life as senior citizens.  But they'd return at the peak of their young adulthood, strikingly  handsome and blindingly beautiful.  Energetic and fit they would move with an ease and firmness I'd never seen before.  They would know all about our lives since they passed and when we asked them to describe heaven, they wouldn't be able to.  They would simply say that the Lord wasn't kidding when he said "eyes has not seen nor ear heard" and that's it far more amazing then they could have guessed.  I see their faces bright with joy and free from worry in a way that I'd never known them in life (and all three seemed to have the peace that passes understanding even when they lived in our world).  Honestly, they seem almost like kids--excited, quick to laugh, truly enjoying eternity.  They would encourage us to stay close to Jesus, assure us that He is so much closer to us and and loves us so much more than we can even begin to realize.  While we would long to be with them all the time instead of just for this brief visitation they don't share our impatience.  "It's hard to explain," grandma would say. "Time just feels different there.  It really feels like we just arrived yesterday, even though your grandpa has been there for 13 years and I've been there for three."

"Boy!" my grandpa would bark in a way that is reminiscent of when he was on earth, "don't you worry.  We'll all be together soon enough."

"Your grandparents are real fine people," Dad would say in a clear young man's voice that I only barely recognize.  "You know the Lord has us living right next door to each other!"

All too soon, it would be time for them to go and they would fade away as gently as they'd arrived.  And we'd be sad all over again.  And the world would seem especially dreary and the wait for Jesus' return or own death would or at least till whenever they could next visit would seem  unbearably long.

It would be nice to see Dad, Grandpa  and Grandma again but I think that the devastating aftermath of those visits are why God saw fit not do things this way.  For now they rest, and there are no visits, just a permanent reunion one day.  I'm looking forward to that!