The Cycle of Life

Being as my focus for my PhD will be on working with military families, and I have a lot of friends that are either active duty, reservists or vets one would think I've come to terms with the fact that we all die.

Well in a sense I have. I know that most likely none of us are going to pull an Enoch and be swept up to Heaven without dying, and even if we do pull an Enoch there is still the passing to deal with.

Death is not an easy subject. There are no magic words a person can say to make it easier to deal with a friend or family member passing. As Christians we know that when we die we are entering Heaven and we know that our Christian loved ones that have passed are right now praising God. That gives us hope, but it doesn't make the pain go away. It doesn't mean we don't miss the people that have died. Heck, Christ who knew firsthand (because He was there before time began) what Heaven was like wept when His friend Lazarus died. If death causes God to mourn, how much more do we mourn?

Last night (or rather early this morning) I received a text from a dear friend informing me that her dad has just passed away. That is never good news. I weep for her and for the pain that she is dealing with, the decisions that have to be made in this time of sorrow.

Yet, today is also my Mom's birthday. A day to celebrate life and accomplishments. Death and life on the same day. The cycle of life: I celebrate my Mom's life and my friend mourns her dad's death. There is no better picture for two absolutes. People will be born and people will die.

I'm still trying to figure this life out. I think that I'll be trying to make sense of life up to the day I die and can FINALLY talk face to face with the holy Lord and hopefully get some straight answers.

Till then I will continue to celebrate life's joys (be they big or small) and mourn life's hardships (be they little inconveniences or major trials) because life is a roller-coaster that begins with earth and continues to move along a track till the Lord tells us it is our time to get off.