Translating a World on the Edge

“Because God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss; because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one.” —Dean Koontz, The Darkest Evening of the Year    

At some time in our lives, each of us will lose someone we love. We will attend a funeral, stand at a cemetery, and later, visit a grave. We will remember the last time we saw them. We may wish we’d said something different than what we actually said. We will long for their companionship.

But we will also laugh at some of the memories  we have of them. We will find ourselves doing the things they did, in just the way they did them. We will think and say what they might have said if they were here now.  We will keep them within us, refer to them when speaking to family members, and by doing so we’ll continue their memory.

And hopefully, we will ask them to pray for us–for I believe they are able to do so.  The veil between life and death is decidedly thin, and  certainly no barrier to God.

Life is certainly a circle. Where does it end? Where does it begin?  This is known only in the mind of our Creator whose nature is Love, itself.

So, we are sad when we lose someone we love, but to be honest the sadness is mostly for ourselves and the despair of what we’ll do without them.  I think we ought to remember that the soul of a beloved never dies, that he or she is eternally loved by God, just as we will be when we are reunited with those who meant the world to us.