I never imagined ringlets.

It didn't really shock Jimmy or I when our daughter was born without hair to speak of. It didn't really shock us when she turned one without hair ... or even two without hair. I was bald until I was three. He was bald ... well ... he's bald again. But somewhere between two and three it started coming. It seemed kind of reddish - again, not too far from what we expected. Her Uncle Christopher has red hair, her maternal great-grandmother was a strawberry blond and her maternal great-great-grandmother was a red-head. Her father and her maternal grandfather both grow red facial hair.

But it finally grew past being a "boy haircut" (although right around her third birthday, a man in Walmart asked me if I was "sure" she was a boy.) And one day I saw it. The slightest little turn under. Now, my hair won't even perm, so I still figured it would end up straight when it really started to grow. I was just happy it was growing. But with the length came more curl. At four and a half, my daughter has the most amazing ringlets coming off of her head.

What else about her is going to be even more amazing than I can now imagine? She's certainly smarter than I dreamed, more loving and funny and playful. Are the dreams I have for her future even remotely as incredible as the dreams God has for her?

And I wonder what other things I underestimate. I recently heard a different take on what hell would be like. Maybe not so much a fiery furnace as a rotting, stinky pit. But as I thought about, I realized that the worst thing about hell won't be the weather conditions or even the company, but that whatever the BAD is of hell, being there will mean you are totally removed from God. Absolutely no comfort. Absolutely no peace. That will be what makes hell ... hell.

I love "I Can Only Imagine," recorded by several Christian artists. I don't think our human, earthly brains can even begin to imagine what it will be like in heaven. And I know this what I imagine may be as great as straight hair on a bald three year old. But I believe that what heaven will really be, will be even better than those precious ringlets.