Death's Ripple Effect And God's Firm Promise Of Life
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| ... whether still on earth or places eternal and ethereal. |
When a loved one passes away
your heart yearns for one more day
to better serve that special someone so dear to you
but mental obstructions somehow beguile too
Being close to an old friend in the aftermath of their mother's passing the past few days.
My past experiences of pain, doubt, worry, regret, and bitterness are reminded me.
I see once again how confusing the mind's storms can be.
Clarity of thought is fleeting, while a noble effort is exerted.
Those left behind desire to reach some idealistic expectation.
If only we can hear, in clear and actual terms, our dearly departed tell us 'that is fine' or 'that will do' regarding our efforts to honor their memory.
Yet our mind makes arguments about past failures, or ask for forgiveness, or say we forgive, or whichever of the dizzying array of things lingering still in the heart.
Perhaps only you and God know the secret thoughts you held when someone near and dear to you passed away.
You know what concerns you held and are afraid to reveal.
You consider what you should have done, what you would do now, and the sorrow and regret of the many what ifs.
When you are at a distance from someone going through the motions of loss, however, you are a spectator of things you similarly went through.
You are to see and reflect.
For some families, the character challenges rise to the surface and can be quite revealing.
Concerns of finances and medical issues having likely been a battle for a time while the person was alive, now those issues being dissected and still points of contention after the death.
The importance of a will comes to mind when a will was absent... to snuff out dissent and complaints.
Death is the inevitable... but death is often times ignored and its thought avoided.
Why do people fear death so much?
Doubt.
Lack of faith.
An arrested development of maturity.
The waves of mental dissonance being too much to handle or navigate.
For some people, the experience produces great fruits in character and grants insight to life.
For others, death never seems to leave someone's side after death takes their loved one(s)... and they seem to cease living, the patterns of fear and turmoil repeating in their lives.
For those gifted faith and called to the Way, we have this hope made sure... as depicted and affirmed here:
On His arrival, Yeshua found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
“Lord,” Martha said to Yeshua, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Yeshua said to her, “I Am the resurrection and the Life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Yeshua had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
When Mary reached the place where Yeshua was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”When Yeshua saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” He asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
Yeshua wept.
Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
But some of them said, “Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Yeshua, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” He said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Yeshua said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”So they took away the stone. Then Yeshua looked up and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that you always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
When He had said this, Yeshua called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Yeshua said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
- John 11: 17-44
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