There’s nothing, absolutely NOTHING nice about the process of death. It’s cold and final and very depressing. I once watched in despair as a budgie fell sick and died. It was pitiful. I was so helpless. The few days he was sick, I watched him desperately, yet hopelessly cling to life. Eventually, he breathed his last.
I often see Facebook statuses of friends whose pets have died. It’s heartbreaking.
When it comes to your own loved ones, it’s even more devastating. Even when our beloved “Granny” (Mike’s Mom) passed away 18 months ago, it was ugly to watch life ebb out of her body. Thin, bedridden, fed through a syringe, her dying was hard to watch. Yet, all the time with Granny, I knew this is how it is supposed to be. At aged 89, she had lived a good long life. God had blessed her.This was normal. Yet is was still hard.
So when you lose someone close to you who is younger and fitter, the trauma of an early passing is overwhelming.
Yet the death of one of God’s children brings with it one of the great paradoxes of the Bible: Their death is good.
“Can’t be!” you cry!
Today I pondered the profound words in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12. When the death of a loved one looms close, these are words that make sense…
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned;struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”
I’m not a huge fan of The Message Bible but sometimes it gives a unique perspective – of verse 12 it says….
“While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!”
That’s the truth. While we, the family are struggling with our loved one’s imminent departure and going through the worst time of our lives, he/she is in the position of ‘getting in on the best.’ After all, isn’t this the aim of our lives as Christ-followers on earth? That one day we cross the finish line and are embraced by Jesus Himself welcoming us to His eternal Kingdom?
What we think is that we are living and they are dying, but the truth is that we are dying in a fallen world, while they are embracing life in an eternal kingdom.
While I enjoy good health today, I feel like saying “Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep.”
LIFE after death is a spectacular gift – and while I don’t look forward to the process of dying – I am grateful that the arrival will far surpass the dark sadness of the journey.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx