I started rereading The Great Divorce today in preparation for Tuesday’s book club and came across this gem:

Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.

— C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, Preface.

John Wesley, in his fullest explanation of the nature of salvation, was very keen to say that our salvation is not something that waits for the life to come, but something (I would describe salvation as a faith-enabled, loving, grace-fueled relationship with God) that begins in the here and now and continues throughout eternity. Thus our present life, if lived with God as it’s aim can be part of Heaven itself.