On Losing Those We Love

Death means different things at different times to different people: To one who has long been weary in well-doing, it may mean blessed release⎯the sweet sorrow of parting, but without bitterness. To one whom we feel has not had a fullness of time, it is an unwelcome intruder. To all of us it is something which we may ultimately expect. But to those we love, to families, friends, to beloved companions, death is an acute loss, a sorrow that softens only with time, and the memory of which is never completely erased. And when death comes near, it strips from life all of its superficialities and puts us face to face with the meaning of things as they are. It is then that we have an urgent awareness of what is permanently worth while and what is of only passing worth, what we can take with us and what we cannot take, what matters much and what matters little. There is no compromising with death. It comes when it comes with unchangeable finality so far as the present scene is concerned and the prospect would be dark indeed except for the assurance of everlasting life with those we love. And while those who grieve for the departed may not altogether silence their sorrow or leave behind their loneliness, they need never doubt that those whom death has taken, yet live; and that the renewal of cherished associations is part of the plan and purpose of God, our Father, in whose hands we all are, here and hereafter. To you who have lost those you love, take this comfort to your hearts this day: that if a man die he shall also rise again. There is no parting in this life that may not look toward another meeting, in the Lord’s own time and place and purpose. And neither the uncertainty of life nor the certainty of death can destroy the peace of those in whom is found this settled assurance. Thus may the sorrows of losing those we love be replaced by the assurances of things to come. Said our Savior: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:… Believest thou this?… Yea, Lord: I believe.”