It happens so fast...
Just tonight, while scrolling through my newsfeed I read the awesome news that some recently married friends of mine are expecting their first child! I did the usual thing to do, posted a congratulations (or something similar) then continued to scroll.
Only a few posts later, I read the shocking news that the brother of my cousin's fiancee passed away in a drowning accident today. In less than 5 minutes, the feeling of great excitement at the news of new life was replaced with pure shock, then heartache. It took a few minutes for the news to really set in before the tears came.
I didn't know him very well. More of an acquaintance than a friend.
I know two of his sisters a little better - you know, like when we see each other at a mutual friend's wedding or something similar we say hi and ask how it's going. When I started crying it wasn't because suddenly my life is going to change...really, it probably won't much at all. But that didn't lessen the blow of knowing that someone who was alive, healthy, and well suddenly isn't on Earth anymore - in a matter of minutes, the world turned upside down for the family of a son, brother, and friend.
When a good friend of mine unexpectedly passed away 5 years ago, I remembered every detail. The last-minute goodbyes as our families headed home from a weekend church retreat. The 3 days of praying and wondering if she would wake up from the coma or not. The many tears and nights of questioning why - why her? During the days surrounding her funeral, person after person, literally everyone who knew her, had only memories of her sweet giving, serving spirit. I remember questioning myself - asking myself what people would say about my life if I passed away within a matter of days, minutes.
While I don't know what to say when it comes to losing a loved one I do know this - life matters.
And since death is a part of life, everytime I'm faced with it, I have to ask, are we prepared for it? We can probably never be fully prepared to lose a loved one, so I'm not asking that. What I'm asking is, what if it would be me? What if it would be you? I need to ask myself if I'm prepared for my death. Because the way I answer that also answers the question of if I'm living my life as if it really mattered...
[I] have set before you life and death... Therefore choose life... (Deuteronomy 30:19)
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." ~Jesus
(Matthew 11:28)
Just tonight, while scrolling through my newsfeed I read the awesome news that some recently married friends of mine are expecting their first child! I did the usual thing to do, posted a congratulations (or something similar) then continued to scroll.
Only a few posts later, I read the shocking news that the brother of my cousin's fiancee passed away in a drowning accident today. In less than 5 minutes, the feeling of great excitement at the news of new life was replaced with pure shock, then heartache. It took a few minutes for the news to really set in before the tears came.
I didn't know him very well. More of an acquaintance than a friend.
I know two of his sisters a little better - you know, like when we see each other at a mutual friend's wedding or something similar we say hi and ask how it's going. When I started crying it wasn't because suddenly my life is going to change...really, it probably won't much at all. But that didn't lessen the blow of knowing that someone who was alive, healthy, and well suddenly isn't on Earth anymore - in a matter of minutes, the world turned upside down for the family of a son, brother, and friend.
When a good friend of mine unexpectedly passed away 5 years ago, I remembered every detail. The last-minute goodbyes as our families headed home from a weekend church retreat. The 3 days of praying and wondering if she would wake up from the coma or not. The many tears and nights of questioning why - why her? During the days surrounding her funeral, person after person, literally everyone who knew her, had only memories of her sweet giving, serving spirit. I remember questioning myself - asking myself what people would say about my life if I passed away within a matter of days, minutes.
While I don't know what to say when it comes to losing a loved one I do know this - life matters.
And since death is a part of life, everytime I'm faced with it, I have to ask, are we prepared for it? We can probably never be fully prepared to lose a loved one, so I'm not asking that. What I'm asking is, what if it would be me? What if it would be you? I need to ask myself if I'm prepared for my death. Because the way I answer that also answers the question of if I'm living my life as if it really mattered...
[I] have set before you life and death... Therefore choose life... (Deuteronomy 30:19)
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." ~Jesus
(Matthew 11:28)
