Life and death … and life.
Oct. 1 is our granddaughter’s third birthday. Mona and I are going to the party with a doll house and tricycle in tow. Like every other grandparent, we know we have been bit hard by the “gp bug.” We have pictures to prove it.
Several days a week, Mona and Eloise “face time.” I used to say if reincarnation were true, I would want to come back as Mona’s dog. Now, I have found something even better. Eloise has brought another and special kind of happiness to us. From those first days of just holding her, to pushing her in a stroller on walks to watching “Frozen” and “Finding Nemo” with her snuggled in your lap, to now a vivid imagination that wants to play all of the time comes a pleasure unavailable by any other means.
However, as we were planning for this trip, word came that my cousin, Carrie, suddenly passed from this life to the next. Carrie was only 45 years of age. At this point, we do not know what happened other than she passed away in her home. Carrie was a social worker and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. She had a wonderful testimony, demonstrated by a dramatic transformation when she “came home” to Christ a number of years ago.
I have been reading the posts of those who have been sharing what she meant to them … her spirit, her intervention, her love. So, on this weekend of travel, I will be at a 3-year-old’s birthday party with all things pink, then with with my family as we remember and “lay to rest that which is mortal of our deceased loved one and friend.”
Both of these things remind me that life is “fleeting”… whether it be three years that have passed so quickly or a “lifetime.” It also reminds me that, ultimately, the Gospel of our Lord (and thus, our primary message as “the church”) is about life. Said Jesus, “I have come that you might live life to the full” and “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
It is the latter especially that separates the church from any and every other “social” enterprise. While many address “quality of life” issues, it has been entrusted to us to share the good news that “whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Because He lives, so do I and so shall we.
Geoff Kunselman