Saturday, May 26, 2012

I'm Thinking

It is a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, it is 15 C and it is only 10 am. The birds are chirping and singing and there is no traffic hum like there is during the week. Even the caw caw caw of the crows is melodic this morning.

Yet, while the serenity of the backyard sounds and its beautiful view are comforting and relaxing, I am distracted with the knowledge that our next door neighbors are dealing with the reality of their mom's sudden passing. Whether or not you know someone was sick, or if they are dying of some disease or they suddenly pass away due to accident or injury, the news - the final news - is the same. Shock. Disbelief. It takes 'time' to mentally assent to what has happened and to deal with it and make it real.

I remember when they turned off mom's life support. The noise of the machines stopped and so did her breathing. It was quiet, it was peaceful but it was not happy. She slipped away - like someone at a party who leaves without saying goodbye. They are there one moment and gone the next. You remember just talking with them and then you turn and they are gone.

Ok, a little melancholy for such a beautiful day. It is a fact of life though...this dying. It is what we ALL will do one day. I do believe there is a more glorious life ahead...after this one...and so, and maybe that's why, I strive to enjoy each moment I am granted and make the most of the days given to me. As they say, "the best is yet to come", yet I still want to appreciate and live each moment of the here and now.

To our friends next door, the sadness of the moment will be with them always but will change and mold itself within them to a new understanding and appreciation of life, of relationships and of the world to come. All we can do is to continue to support them in prayer.

Psalm 16:8-11
I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me wth joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

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