A young man that I work with passed away this Memorial Day weekend. We still do not know what happened but needless to say he is missed! He was a young man who had been taught by his parents to say “yes, ma’am” and to treat people that are older than him with respect. When he needed me to purchase something or get something setup for him, he would come by my office and smile as he opened my door – that smile will be missed. His passing has made many here in the office think about how quickly someone can exit the picture and not be a part of your life any longer. I can only imagine what his family is going through right now.
Death is not to be dreaded. It is the entry way into the eternities; a time where we will be with our Father and will stand up and be counted as someone who was for the Father and the Son or someone who wasn’t. I always want to be found on the Lord’s side.
My first experience with death was when a very dear uncle passed away. He had helped me so much when it came to getting me settled in Salt Lake City with a job after I had graduated from Brigham Young University. He had a massive heart attack which took his life; but he had a bad heart and we all knew that it could happen. He was missed but I knew that he was where those worries of health no longer mattered to him.
The death that really took me by surprise was when a very sweet friend who had just been married and had found out that she was going to have a baby. She contracted a disease that weakened her heart lining and caused her death not long after she gave birth. I wondered how could someone so young be called home so early. For some reason, it did not make sense to me at all.
My grandmother passed away not long after that but she was 93 years old so she had lived her life well. She taught her grandchildren to love life and to live it to its fullest. What an example of living she was to me!! After her funeral, we gathered in a pizza parlor to remember our grandmother with stories and laughter. She would have loved it; but would probably have had a different version to the stories we told.
And then came the year that my mother passed away! In January 1990, a dear friend lost her mother to brain cancer. I didn’t know if I could handle the funeral but my mother told me that I needed to go for my friend. I agreed with her and went to the funeral. What a blessing that was to me especially as the time drew closer for me to lose my sweet mother. Who was one of the first people at our door after hearing of my mother’s passing but that dear sweet friend. Losing my mother was not easy and I felt like something was wrong because the grief was intense for me. And then, I read one of my favorite scriptures which simply said “He wept”. Christ didn’t tell Mary and Martha not to grieve He wept with them.
Death can take us by surprise, as the death of my co-worker has, or it can be a long awaited relief from the pain of an illness or just from aging. How we each view death is a personal thing and can be viewed differently by family members and others who may not have the same beliefs as we do. We may grieve and others may be able to see that panorama of the eternities; but it doesn’t matter, because truth be told each of us needs to grieve in our own way. Death is not something I dread because I know that I will be family that has passed on. Right now, I believe I still have some trials, lessons and tender mercies to experience. Life is worth living but death is not to be dreaded!! We live on and will live on for the eternities with those we love and hold dear…that is my belief and is my testimony of the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
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