Grief

I've seen a lot of people get buried the past three years. If I were to name them all this blog would be long and you'd get bored. I will be short! People die. My mom just died. Two dear friends from Jackson Mississippi just died. A woman who visited my church for over a year just died. People die! O what sorrow enters into my heart as I remember them, reflect on their faces, gestures, persons - and I miss them, deeply. Death comes calling always and will take something from all of us; friends, family and eventually all of us, unless Jesus comes back sooner rather than later. I grieve over such profound loss. It's OK to grieve! It is right to grieve and to grieve deeply, if necessary. But I've noticed something in my grieving. I do not grieve uncontrollably as though I have lost something valuable that can never be retrieved. All who die in Christ, you know, having placed their trust and faith in Him alone for their eternal life, I will see again. I will enjoy them far better than I ever enjoyed them here in the fallen world. We will embrace one another in perfection with the absence of sins beleaguering and wearying presence! For now, I grieve but not as the lost grieve; as those "who have no hope" but as one who awaits the great reunion of the vast congregation of God in heaven.