This reminds me of an older person that once told me there was little left holding them here. That all their investments had been moving to heaven so that when they died all they needed was already there. All that was left here was the bare necessities to keep them going until it was time to cross over
(insert rock rift here..."break on through to the other side")
I see this in life more and more as I am forced to become acquainted with death so much more than I would like. I think my mom realized it. She did not embrace her terminal diagnosis the first time she heard it. None of us did . We were shocked and horrified. But I think my mom thought of getting to see her son , her siblings , her parents, her Savior. In mere days after her diagnosis , she was gone. It has been a little over 4 month now and it is not getting easier. We are encountering all the dreaded firsts ...
This week is the 5th anniversary of my brothers death . He was only 49. It is also the first anniversary of my parents wedding that she is not here. They would have been married 56 years.
And then yesterday , my lovely friend Mindy lost her mama. And the barely healed wound on my heart was reopened a little.
There is this thread that runs through this sad ballad in my mind . All of these particular people had health problems for quite sometime. And we all accepted it as their new normal. We move on with life in the new reality and we forget that there is an enemy pacing the side lines ready to pounce. But you know what ? God warns us that we have an enemy ...all of us. An enemy who is "roaming about like a roaring lion , seeking whom he may devour" . So , I may not see him on the side lines , he might be in the parking lot. But he is there.
But I am not all doom and gloom. And neither is life. God gives us plenty of hope and opportunities for joy. "Greater is He that is in me , than he that is in the world" "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" There are so many more reasons for hope and faith and joy.
All of the people mentioned here shared another ribbon , they knew Jesus . We know they are having a glorious reunion in their new home . They had enough sent ahead that moving to the new house made for an easy moving day.
But us here in the old neighborhood are seeing the abandoned houses and missing our loved one. May God help us remember LIFE , love and laughter. And help us imagine the reunion and more. May the God of hope fill us , keep us and one day make our moving day easy.
