'Heavenly' books can add focus about life's goals

From the beginning of time, people have been a fascinated by the supernatural or unexplainable phenomena.

This curiosity runs the gamut — from vampires to UFOs to angels.

Remember the delightful movie "Heaven Can Wait" with Warren Beatty? Or " Oh, God!" with George Burns? Or the timeless Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful Life"?

Look at the amazing success of Stephenie Meyer's books "Twilight" series about vampires. My book club read "Twilight" during a month I didn't attend, and since I prefer reading about angels rather than vampires, I didn't pick the book up.

But I recently went to see our 12-year-old granddaughter, Sydney, who was reading the book and couldn't put it down. It obviously has appeal for all ages.

And just think of the success of "Harry Potter."

I read a "Harry Potter" book or two and listened to charming Jim Dale read another. Oh, to possess these kinds of imaginations and talents.

Recently, I read a somewhat disturbing but eventually rewarding book titled "The Lovely Bones." The book is about a young girl who loses her life in a violent manner. Then in a voice that is surprisingly funny and full of hope, she goes between earth and heaven as she progresses and gains an appreciation of her life.

I'm not necessarily recommending this book, as there were some parts that were disturbing. However, it made me think about angels and heaven and perhaps how it all works.

Then I got thinking of how we make our heaven right here on earth, through both the events we can control and those we cannot.

Our life becomes what we make of those events. We will appear at the Pearly Gates warts and all.

In "Lovely Bones," the girl, Susie Salmon, narrates from her personal heaven, which changes as she watches her family and friends on earth. Through watching and also dealing with her counselor in heaven, she matures and finds more understanding of her own life.

Her heaven is one of "simplest dreams," the landscape of a suburban high school with no teachers. She relates that, "We never had to go inside except for art class. The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue."

The writer, Alice Sebold, in an interview with Katharine Viner, expressed why her heaven was simplistic in design: "To me, the idea of heaven would give you certain pleasures, certain joys — but it's very important to have an intellectual understanding of why you want those things.

"It's also about discovery, and being able to come to the conclusions that elude you in life. So it's from the most simplistic things — Susie wants a duplex — to larger things, like being able to understand why her mother was always slightly distant from her."

Since reading that book, I can't quit thinking about what I want my heaven to be instead of thinking that heaven is just there waiting and God and his angels are up there choosing what it will be like for me.

What do I need to discover and learn in my life that I haven't already?

Who do I want in my heaven, and am I giving them the care and attention I need for them to want to be in mine?

What can I do here on earth to enlarge my life, to be more intelligent, fun, helpful and to be ready?

Probably some work on my genealogy wouldn't hurt.

And unless I want my heaven to smell slightly like skunk (her grandfather's tobacco) as was Susie's heaven, I had best get cracking.

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