This past week has had many moments of
sorrow. We first attended the funeral of
relative who passed away from liver cancer.
The next day, our beloved aunt walked through the gates of heaven after
her valiant fight with liver cancer.
Then, just two days later, a very dear friend of ours met his Jesus face
to face following his diagnosis of brain and lung cancer. All three of them were dearly loved by their
friends and family and will be greatly missed.
I cannot attend a funeral or hear of someone
passing away, without thinking of my own mother who left this earth in
2009. She was especially on my mind this
past week since she would have celebrated her 90th birthday on
January 15th. Oh how I wish
we could have celebrated together on her special day but I have the feeling the
party in heaven was much more than I could ever imagine!
For those who leave this earth after accepting
Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, eternity is spent walking
streets of gold and worshiping the King of Kings. They are completely healed…no more pain…no
more cancer…no more heartache. They
close their eyes to the problems of this world, and open them in their new
heavenly home. Just as it says in the
beautiful song “Finally Home”:
But just think of stepping on shore-And
finding it Heaven!
Of touching a hand-And finding it God's!
Of breathing new air-And finding it celestial!
Of waking up in glory-And finding it home!
It is us who are left behind who grieve; who
now have to deal with facing each day with an empty hole that no one else can
fill. Life will never be the same for us
who are left on this earth to carry on without those whom we dearly loved.
After my mom passed away, I knew I had a
choice to make. I could dwell on the
fact that she left me, or I could dwell on what
she left me. She left me to receive her
eternal reward…but what she left me was an example of what a Christian life
should look like. She left me with
memories of the times I saw her respond in a loving way when I wasn’t very
lovable. She left me with memories of
seeing her spend time in the Word, learning more and more from her Savior. She left me with memories of always displaying
the image of her Heavenly Father…so much so that I never heard anyone say a
negative word about her.
What she left me were very big shoes to fill
in her absence. She left me with an
example of what I should strive for in my walk with my Heavenly Father each and
every day. I often think of her and
wonder what she would do in certain situations and wish I could glean from her
wisdom just one more time. But since I
know that her wisdom came from spending time with Him, I know that I have the
same opportunity each day to learn from Him too.
A friend recently asked
me if I spend much time at my mother’s grave and I admitted that I think I have
only been there once or twice since 2009.
That may shock some of you and you may feel like I’m not a very good
daughter, but my reason is that to me, she is not there. I have no “pull” to her gravesite because she
taught me by her example, that in death she would have eternal life with the
Lord. Her steadfast focus was on the day
that she would step on shore and find it to be Heaven. Of touching a hand and
finding it God's. Of breathing new air
and finding it celestial and of waking up in glory and finding it home!
When the Lord calls me
home, I wonder what I will have left those here on earth. Will I be remembered for reflecting the image
of Christ, or for living only for my own pleasure? Will others remember me as being a faithful
follower of Christ, or a faithful follower of the world? I know that the example that I leave behind
could either draw others closer to my Savior, or push them farther away so I
need to be diligent in making the right choices now so that what I leave behind
will make a difference in eternity. Time
is short…I need to be faithful today.
How about you? When God calls you home, will your passing
just be a date in an obituary, or will your life live on by what you have left
behind? Time is short…you need to be
faithful today.
“Dear brothers and
sisters, pattern your lives after mine,
and learn from those who follow our example.”
Philippians 3:17
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