Ok, I'm going to give a disclaimer right here at the very beginning of this post. Ready for it? Here it is: This post might not make you feel all warm and fuzzy...at least not until the end. But it's what is on my mind and heart tonight and so if it feels heavy, it is. It's weighing on me and I need to express my thoughts in hopes of alleviating that weight. If you are not in a position to handle it, it's ok! I give you complete permission to stop reading right now and find something that will be happier all the way through.
For those that are still reading...I want to talk about a terrible subject. Death. Yep, I said it. It is one of the worst parts of life for me. Do I fear death? Nope. And I don't mean to sound morbid or anything, but it sounds pretty good to me when I think of death for me being the passing from this world full of it to a heaven with my Jesus where there is no more death! But as far as I know I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, so no worries, ok?
Why on earth is death on my mind tonight? Well...I can give you a lot of reasons. First, I found out tonight that a neighbor (in Wellsville) that I have known my WHOLE life passed away this past week. His funeral was yesterday, but as far as I know none of our neighbors knew that he had passed. I don't know about the past few years, but as far as I knew before that he had never accepted Christ. Lord, I sure hope he did! Rest in peace Jerry.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. That's what it says in Psalm 116:15. I have read that verse so many times, but it never jumped out at me until last year, about this time, when my first pastor (Otis) died. I had mentioned his passing on facebook and someone posted that. Oddly enough, I really did find that to be comforting. Anything that is precious to the Lord obviously holds a lot of value and so it's comforting to know that God cares THAT much. But I hate death. Death means being separated from someone or something that you love (relatively speaking of course). Can I just be brutally honest? I have a dear friend that I love very much who is facing death right now. If God chooses not to intervene, he will be gone in a very short time. Frankly, I don't like that. I'm not God and I know He knows best...but death leaves behind so much hurt in its wake. I've experienced too many times the kind of hurt his family will have to endure if this occurs. I don't wish that on ANYONE! But precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. And also in Matthew 5:4 it says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." You know, in addition to the intense pain that I have endured because of death I have also experienced the comfort of God. There's nothing like it! It truly is a blessing to be comforted by the Creator of the universe. The process just hurts a lot. Bittersweet...but hopefully more sweet than bitter.
Death comes in a lot of areas too...not just the loss of life. Death can happen in someone's spirit. This means they lose part of who they are and the life seems to go out of them even while they are still living and functioning. This kind of death, though reversible, is still death. Death can come in the form of a life-changing event, such as moving away from people you love and places with which you are familiar. It's as though you are experiencing death (sometimes, not always) because those things will no longer be a part of your life. Death often comes in relationships. Divorce is a type of death. Estrangement from family is a type of death. Ending of friendships is a type of death.
All of these things hurt tremendously. Most of the time (in the case of relationships), once it's all said and done there is nothing you can do about it. For those left in the world of the living, life just keeps going on and on. The world doesn't stop to let you process what just happened. Everyone around you keeps living their life like normal-because their lives ARE normal-and your life will never be the same. Sound familiar? Yeah, me too. Been there, done that...sometimes it's an on-going thing. Ugh.
So what are we to do? I mean, this is a pretty weighty post. It is not my intention to bring you down, my friend. So let me tell us both some things that are very uplifting. First of all, there's hope. When we lose a loved one who loves God and lives for Him and WE live for Him, we will see them again. Though the separation is hard, it is, indeed, temporary. For all other types of death, here are some thoughts that may bring hope. For those of us who mourn, we are blessed because God comforts us. We are then expected to comfort others with the kind of comfort we have been given. Getting our minds off of ourselves is a really good tool to moving beyond our grief. Just remember, grief MUST be spent. It's natural, just don't hang onto it for an inordinate amount of time.
Next, I want to remind us both, friend, that John 12:24 says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth
and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Now, you may be wondering what a grain of wheat has to do with the price of tea in China...but hear me out. I've been learning (yeah, I've been in a process, and then another process, and then another process...oy vey!) about this concept. Perhaps, just maybe, if we look at these things as that grain of wheat and we can't do anything about it falling to the earth and dying, we may as well have some hope that it WILL produce fruit at the end of our process. Now that fruit could be a revitalization of what once was, only healthier and more productive, or it could just be that something new and more productive will spring up. Whatever the case, just do your best to place your hope in God's awesome farming skills. See what He brings to life out of the death fertilizer that you are experiencing.
One final note: In every type of death, there is the reality of pain for those left behind. I will never forget when my cousin died quite unexpectedly a few years back, my other cousin, Jared, wrote a song that he sang at the funeral. The song summed it all up so well. The lyrics simply said this: Oh God, it hurts so bad just to love anyone down here. Wait, that's right, You know so well. One thorny crown, three nails, and a spear. One thorny crown, three nails, and a spear.
God knows our suffering and our pain. He has experienced it all before. He knows what we need and how we need to be comforted. Let's let Him work on that one. Let's all try to take the advice that Paul offers in Philippians 4:6. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Love and peace to you all.
