Many people are upset by death or have
a lack of understanding. It’s really
hard when it is children whose lives have been claimed before they have much of
an opportunity to live. Or a young
parent with children still in diapers.
Many believe that death is the
end. It is when the Spirit no longer
needs the body. Death is the end of
mortality – but not the end of existing on earth in a human sense.
The Spirit lives on and has the opportunity to reunite with loved ones
who have already passed on.
Roland started off last month
attending his sister’s funeral. Her
death was very unexpected – but I’ve learned to handle sudden death rather
graciously, I think. I have seen too
many spend their last years dying – and that, for me personally, is a lot more
difficult to handle.
Roland said the priest had a thick Jamaican
accent and was hard to understand. He
did turn the time over to the family members who wished to say something. Roland, of course, jumped at the opportunity
and explained the spirit world to his family and defined his sister’s
whereabouts – how she is now reunited with their father, her husband, her
youngest daughter and countless others who have passed before her.
I would have taken the opportunity
also – had I been there. Jenna had
already missed two days of school when we had gone down for the party. I couldn’t risk three more, could I?
As it turned out, Jenna was throwing
up the night before. With her sensitive
stomach she does NOT do well in the car.
I doubt we would have even made it out of the city.
Roland can make it to his family’s
house in about 12 hours when he is by himself – but when Jenna and I are with
him, there are more stops required which have added two to four hours to his
time.
I would rather deal with death than deterioration
whether of the mind or the body – or both.
My dad’s mind was very sharp and alert – up until his dying day. But not everybody saw that.
After the strokes robbed him of being
able to use his muscles, his brain would tell his mouth what to say but it was
slurred – hard to understand for most.
And so many thought he had lost his mind as well. But he knew fully well what was taking
place. It must have been so frustrating
Not to communicate that.
And I know dad is not alone. There are many who are robbed of health
physically. And even though their minds may
be active, their thoughts are not always conveyed – and that hurts.
And then there’s my mom – whose mind
seems to be going before her body does.
And because she forgets, she also neglects her physical health. Either way seems to be a raw deal. But I don’t always think of death as a raw
deal – but sometimes the way one dies is unbearable and often too hard to think
about.
Roland’s sister went quickly. There was little suffering on her part. Her daughter had a really hard time with
it. I don’t think she would if she
understood that this earth life is just a test.
It is where we do things with physical bodies that a spirit by itself
cannot do. But we only have these
bodies on borrowed time. The spirit
lives on. So people don’t really die –
they’re just separated from bodies they don’t need any more.
Those who have touched so many lives live
in our memories and are shared with others through words, through books,
through the Internet. Those who have
made such impact and impression never really die. We know their names. We have their histories. They are a part of us.
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