My husband’s Uncle Buddy and one of my mother’s best friends, Kitty, recently passed away. Their funerals are within a day of one another. Have you ever heard that some people make your life better by coming into it and others by leaving? Uncle Buddy and Kitty both made your life better by coming into it. Everybody loved Buddy. He was kind, full of charisma and musical talent, and he loved and served God. Kitty was wise, strong, funny, and Godly. Our lives were better because of them and worse since they left Earth for Heaven. The comforting thing about Unle Buddy’s passing is for him; we know that he is with God.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Impossible To Grieve
When we have the assurance that a loved one is in heaven, it’s impossible to grieve for them; we only grieve for ourselves. My hubby and I grieve and are heartbroken for Buddy’s kids and his sweet widow. I’ve tried to feel sorry for Bud that he didn’t get to see a great-grandchild or further continue his beautiful senior love story with his loving wife. However, I’ve considered it; I’ve tried, but I can’t feel bad for him. It’s the same thing with Kitty. There is only one reason I feel this way. They are in the bosom of their creator, that knows them thoroughly and loves them perfectly. There’s nothing to feel sorry for. The most extraordinary things in this world are nothing compared to being in the full presence of God. They have no lack, unfulfilled longing, pain, fear, or worry, only an unearthly, uncorrupt love.
Jesus said to her, “[a]I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, relies on) Me [as Savior] will live even if he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in Me [as Savior] will never die…
John 11:25-26
Their Last Wish
We don’t cry for those who are with God, but we grieve because we miss them. The measure of our grief is related to the depth of our love and its influence on our lives. When a servant of God dies, know that the blessing was purposely designed for you by God. He knows the extent of the blessing and the resulting depth of loss we feel. God designed them to be a blessing to you. It’s God who guided them into your life, and He can guide and even bless your life in their absence. If they loved you, I know what one of their last wishes was. They want you to experience the comfort that only God can give. I know they would more than anything want you to know love and hope in the darkness, and they want more than anything to see you again. God made way for this through the shed blood of Jesus that covers our sins.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Below is a poem I was inspired to write when a servant of God I knew passed from this earth into the arms of God.
