This is a picture of another northern parula that I took several years ago. It must have been summertime because the tree is a miniature tangerine that I leave outside in warm weather. The bird book I have shows northern parulas present in the East, though they're not very common here.
With death staring us in the face every day and Easter gifting us with eternal life, this might be a good time to meditate on the afterlife. Like every important religious belief it is mystery which we can approach only through symbols and metaphors.
A common metaphor is heaven, often imagined as "up." Some people turn their heads "up" towards heaven to pray. The Bible uses the symbol of a meal. The prophet Isaiah says, "On this mountain God will provide for all people a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure choice wines. (25:5-9)" All of humanity gathered together with God.
I believe that when I die God will receive me into a warm, loving embrace forever. When I say "I believe," I don't mean "I guess." I mean that my faith makes me sure that God receives us when we die into God's loving embrace forever.
We learned in our catechism the God is everywhere. So God is
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