Abe Lincoln said, “In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. The older have learned to ever expect it.”
President Lincoln was right, the older we grow the more often death touches our lives, and I believe there are 3 very important things we can learn when we lose someone we love and care about.
1. Appreciate Life
There is a great book titled Fresh Elastic For Stretched out Parents. The author wrote ” If I had my life to live over again I would do more walking and looking, swim more rivers, climb more mountains and watch more beautiful sunsets, I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones, I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans, If I had my life to live over again I would smell more roses and ride more merry-go-rounds. ”
There are a lot of great ideas in this quote. The only problem is that you and I only make one appearance on the stage of life and we don’t get the opportunity to try it all over again.
I really like what Ray Charles said, “Live everyday like it’s your last because one day you are going to be right.”
We need to appreciate and enjoy our lives and live them to the fullest. There is a wise old saying “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift that is why it is called the present. ”
We need to look at every day as a gift and live our lives to the fullest!
2. Cherish the people we have left in our lives.
A sad poem has been written:
“If I had only known
I’d never hear your voice again
I’d memorize each thing you ever said
And on those lonely nights
I could think of them once more
Keep your words alive inside my head
If I had only known
I’d never hear your voice again”
Never take people in your life for granted. One day they are with you, but the next they may be gone. So cherish each person.
There is a great book titled, Leaving the Light On by Gary Smalley in which he gives some great examples of how we can cherish our loved ones:
- Smile
- Give compliments
- Show respect
- Send a card for no reason
- Ask, What can I do to help
- Encourage
- Apologize
- Forgive
We need to remember to cherish the people we have left in our lives
3. Death teaches us to prepare for our own death
Sadness is the obvious emotion that we experiencing at the loss of a loved one. But it is not the only one. Fear also lurks large. Whenever we have a brush with death it leaves us all feeling pretty vulnerable and rightfully it should.
Listen to how the Bible describes our lives in the book of James. “What is your life, it is even a vapor that appears for a little time then vanishes away”
We have all had a hot cup of coffee or hot cocoa and seen the steam that comes off of it. It’s gone in seconds. The Bible says that’s what our lives are like. Because we don’t know the future we don’t know when our time will come to an end. It could be today, tomorrow or 20 years from now… but it is coming
The good news of the Gospel is we do not have to live in fear. Jesus came and conquered death. Death is an ugly door to a beautiful world because Jesus died to take away the sting of death. Turn to Jesus today to prepare for your eternity.
You can read some of my other articles about comfort in death: Heaven, Do children go to heaven when they die?, 6 ways to deal with grief and loss, 5 keys to good grief.