LIVING, DYING, AND SO ON

It has been awhile since I wrote on here, but not because I did not want to, just was not in the mood.  LOL It is sometime after 2AM and I could not sleep because though my body was tired, apparently my brain was not and would not shut down.  Kinda sucks when you are on vacation.

An unfortunate, fortunate thing happened this past Monday.  My mother in law died.  Well that is when she stopped breathing.  Some would say she actually stopped being the person she had always been last December when she had a stroke, however she physically left this life on Monday at 11:30 AM.  Her husband of 65 years was holding her hand.  (Who in the world stays married these days for 65 years.  THEY did.)  Though in the last year they were not physically living in the same room, the were in the same place, a nursing home.  My father in law has Alzheimers and really does not always know what is happening, however he did apparently realize that his wife of 65 years was gone.  They were forever known as Jim and Rachel.  This is all so seemingly sad, however there are some things that make this a bit better and easier for the family.  This is where the "fortunate" part comes in play.

Rachel was a Godly woman.  A fact that she had passed to her whole family thru the years.  I happen to be married to the oldest and she is one of the sweetest people I know, and I truly do not deserve her.  (A fact that did not escape Rachel when we were 1st married.  :))  I was always raised in church.  I know that dying is a part of life.  People die all the time.  Seems like there is this tug of war at times.  Doctors want to perform heroic life saving measures to keep someone alive and their body is saying NO please let me go.  This is why I think Hospice care is so great.  They allow a person to be comfortable and allow the inevitable to happen.  Rachel had been on Hospice care for several months.

One of the things I have heard my whole life is we have, as Christians, this "Blessed Hope".  What does that mean?  Well is means that as Christians, we have this promise of seeing our loved ones, who were also Christians, again in Heaven when we also die.  How strange is that.  Im sure that you probably thought, when Im dead, Im dead, just leave me alone, I can finally get some rest.  I've always been pretty pragmatic about death.  I guess that is how I was raised, but I have also always found it just a bit interesting.  Have you ever wondered about it?  I have.  How can you be alive and breathing one moment, and then poof, you are gone?  Our bodies are extremely complicated if you really think about it.  Once you are born the clock starts ticking.  Some of us have a very long time, and others don't.  Think about this.  This body has an incredible amount of healing power.  If you cut yourself, you heal up within a few days.  Should you get a cold, it only lasts a few days.  Break a bone, and it heals in a matter of weeks.  Have surgery and typically you heal.  God made a pretty incredible thing when he made us.

Getting back to why Im up at 2AM writing a blog.  This kept going thru my mind.  I kept thinking of the verse in Revelation 21:4 that says "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow or crying, neither shall there be anymore pain"  I personally think this is more the Blessed Hope than just seeing a loved one again.  To be able to rest in the arms of God, to be able to have HIM wipe away our tears, and for there to be no more death.  To us who are left here on this earth, losing a loved one stings.  It hurts.  Even when it is someone who because of a stroke was really not the same person she had always been, it is still a shock to the system.  You are always expecting the phone call, but when it comes it still hurts.  I've lost both of my parents, as well as other family members.  I've gone thru this and can hold my wife's hand and hug my daughter, but they still will grieve, and that is a good thing.

Rachel is no longer in pain, she is no longer having to take insulin she no longer has to worry about anything in this life.  She has fought the good fight, she has run the race, she is now with her Father in Heaven.  She is reunited with friends and loved ones that went on before her.  She has no worries at all about anything.  The family and friends she left behind, will of course miss her, but they have the "HOPE" of seeing her again when they reach Heaven's shores!  So don't cry for Rachel, weep for your loss, weep with tears of joy for her, she is in a far better place and God has wiped away all of her tears.