My friend died
today. It's hard to know what to say after that.
I could say he
was recently diagnosed with a body-wide cancer, so that he didn't suffer very
long. I could say he's a Christian and
he is now in the wonderful and unimaginable presence of Jesus. I could
say he lived a good life and he lived it to the full.
These are all
true statements, yet in the aftermath of loss they offer little comfort.
Today my heart only knows the pain of loss. Today death wounds me
with the reality that every speck of my consciousness rejects; at the core of
my soul I know that death is not supposed to happen.
And it is the
pain of death that teaches me.
It is through
death that I realize the importance of life—how I must make the most of every
moment. It is through death that I realize what my true values are—that
life is not about stuff or accomplishments, it's about relationships. It
is through death that I remember I was created for life.
And death reminds
me to be living my epitaph: 'I lived everyday; I laughed everyday; I Loved
Every day.'
Focus Scripture: ‘But we
do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so
that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep
in Jesus.’ I Thessalonians 4:13-14
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