Yesterday, I went to a funeral. Tomorrow, Shannon from Oregon (a friend of my sister) is going to a funeral. Friday, Becky is going to a funeral. And on Monday, another lady named Shannon went to a funeral. But all of these funerals were completely different.
The funeral I attended was one for a 80 year old lady who has been waiting to die for a while. Sad? For sure. Sad for her family. Her husband and her 2 grown kids. That was their wife and momma. She'll never be here again. They'll forever miss her.
Tomorrow, Shannon is going to a funeral for her 4 month old baby girl. She will be seeing a tiny little casket. A casket holding the body of her baby in her Easter dress. Sweet baby Reese died at daycare during her nap time. She died from SIDS. Something you can't see coming. This funeral will be so entirely different from the one I attended. A life well lived compared to a life just started. Shannon is trying to learn how to get rid of the emptiness that her arms feel. The baby's big brother is trying to learn how to be an "only child" again. The daddy is trying to learn how to live without his little princess.
On Friday, Becky (a good friend of mine) will be attending the funeral of her young aunt. Her aunt who never married nor had kids. An aunt who lived alone in Alaska. Lived alone and died alone. She was the baby of 5 girls. Her sisters and her mother and all her nieces and nephews will miss her terribly.
And this past Monday, a different Shannon attended a funeral. This funeral was for her father. This funeral was also only 8 days after she went to a funeral for her mother. Her mother died of cancer. Shannon
kinda saw that one coming. Didn't soften the blow but she had time to say goodbye. Her father died suddenly of a heart-attack. This lady had to plan two funerals, attend two funerals, and bury both of her parents within 8 days.
As I sat in that funeral yesterday, I cried. I cried for all the hurt that each of these funerals caused. I cried at the diversity of each funeral. I cried because death does NOT spare anyone. You never know when it'll be your turn to plan a funeral, attend a funeral, or be the reason FOR the funeral. A lady at the funeral sang "Beulah Land". Oh, how that song hit me. The only cure for all of this is Heaven. I know God has each of our days numbered. He knows when we'll go. He knows when we'll plan and attend for someone dear to us. He doesn't leave us to do this alone. He doesn't leave us to deal with these things alone. He is with us. But how much better will Heaven be?! No more goodbyes. No more tears. Reunion with our families and loved ones. It makes me home-sick.I pray that you know WHO the giver of comfort is. I don't know how people go through these things without faith in the Lord. Without faith that there is MORE and there is BETTER. I'll leave you with the verses of "Beulah Land".
Beulah Land
I'm kind of homesick for a country
To which I've never been before.
No sad goodbyes will there be spoken
for time won't matter anymore.
Beulah Land, I'm longing for you
and some day on thee I'll stand.
There my home shall be eternal.
Beulah Land -- Sweet Beulah Land
I'm looking now across the river
where my faith will end in sight.
There's just a few more days to labor.
Then I will take my heavenly flight.
