Nirvana

My son is studying world religions in school. He comes home and says, "I am going to give you a definition and you tell me the word that it is describing." I can do this. He says "Total Freedom...freedom from everything rooted in this world." Awesome, I know the answer. "It's the freedom that we find in the love of Christ." He smiles and looks at me. He asks me to elaborate. So I explain the freedom that I have discovered. The freedom from bondage in sin, greed, jealousy and hate. The freedom to love and the freedom to forgive. The freedom in no longer contemplating the afterlife or the road to happiness. The freedom from want of excess material things. The freedom from constant pursuit of self glorification, searching for approval from other people in this world. The freedom to say what I believe and not be ashamed, to believe fully what I say I believe. To have the confidence to say that what I believe exist with all my heart and mind, because I have experienced it, lived it, felt it. The freedom in knowing and experiencing instantaneous healing. Freedom even when experiencing pain and trails that it is just the ultimate refining process, gradually preparing me for things to come therefore negating true pain and hopelessness.
He smiles again. "Only you, mom, would turn an ancient Indian philosophical concept into something about Jesus. The answer was nirvana." I found my nirvana in Christ. How cool is that?
Nirvāṇa (Sanskrit: निर्वाण; Pali: निब्बान (nibbān); Prakrit: णिव्वाण) is a central concept in Indian religions. In Sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha. The word literally means "blowing out"—referring in the Buddhist context, to the blowing out of the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion.[1]