Death: The Gift of a Life Well-lived
For those who've recently lost a loved one...
[Note: For the sake of simplicity and readability, I've chosen to use the pronouns "she," "her," and "grandma" in this post. Please feel free to inset whatever pronouns feel the most meaningful to you in this moment.]
Those who live well, leave something of themselves with us. It's a part of the legacy of their lives. Remember your grandma. Remember who she was and what she was like. Savor those memories (as I know you already are), and let them continue to be a part of who you are. Writing from a place of deep loss myself: you will miss her. Terribly. And you'll feel great pain, numbness, and, perhaps, even a little confusion. This is not just normal, but healthy as we were made to experience such things when someone we love has departed. It can also be a really good indicator of the quality of soul your grandma was, is, and always will be. Feel all you do, dear one, and let God wrap His Arms around you and pull you inside His very Heart. As you do this...allow yourself (if you can—I know it's hard) to feel all you're experiencing within the context of a great knowing...
THE GREAT KNOWING that you really knew and loved your grandma...
THE GREAT KNOWING that she really knew and loved you...
And THE GREAT KNOWING, too, that you know The Place to where she's gone. Just as she's left a little of herself with you, know, too, she's taken a little of you with her. In this really sweet exchange, a part of her has stayed behind with you, while a part of you has ventured forth with her, creating a bridge between you and her, here and there, now and a time some day in the future. Your continued (and eternal!) experience of her and her continued and eternal experience of you can become a great magnet that pulls you ever onward toward a grand reunion that awaits only your final arrival there in That Place one fine day. In all this, death can become a friend of sorts: your grandma has finished her race, and now she's waiting for you to one day cross the finish line of your own life. The Scriptures read that God finds pleasure in the deaths of His saints (see Psa 116:15). May you begin to as well—even in the midst of such great heartache. You will see her again, dear friend...just not yet. Until then, may your soul recognize her in you, and may the gratefulness you feel for all she was and all she gave you and your family just pour forth from within you like a waterfall—not just like a fountain, but like a waterfall—into the lives of those around you. Live well, dear friend, as the Spirit enables. Do so as a testament to the wonderful life your grandma lived here on earth.
Peace to you, friend... "A good [woman] leaves an inheritance for [her] children's children."—Proverbs 13:22
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