Am I "pessimistic" for hoping for heaven?  Is it sad that I try to live my life for eternal good, above what would improve my immediate circumstances? 

I will prequel this post by saying that I believe the Bible.  I believe that every word of it is truth and God inspired. If you don't believe the Bible, this post probably won't mean much to you.

The Bible makes us fully aware that our life on Earth is just a piece of the big picture: "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)

When Jesus was sought after to perform miracles, He said, "Truly truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." (John 6:26-27)    

Paul writes, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18), and to the Philippians (1:21) - "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

So, now I ask: is Paul "pessimistic" because he knows that Heaven is good?  I don't believe so.  I think that Paul knew that he was living in a fallen and temporary world, and longed to be with his maker.  

Even with an eternal perspective, I forget and sin all the time.  I praise God for His mercy and grace, which are the only reason I will ever be able to enter into His kingdom.   

And, no, I don't think I am pessimistic.  I don't want to die, I just believe the Bible.  I actually consider myself a fairly joyful person, which is the outcome of Christ living in me.  

"do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:20

On a different subject, here are some pictures from the first week of school!

(My introduction presentation - I wrote all over the map, letting the kids guess where africa, and then Ghana are, and then telling them about places we will study this year - the smart board is awesome!)

(Today we had a "fun friday" where the kids rotated "Excavation Stations" to "dig" into reading...so in the art room, we made dinosaurs.  They were all very cute - this was really funny, if you can't read it, it says "red-neck-asaurus!)