Facing Death

Ecclesiastes 6:1

“A good name is better than precious oil; and the day of death, than the day of one’s birth.”

Psalms 116:5

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

Getting the “whole picture” on death has been helpful to me.   Grieving the imminent lose of someone I hold dear is a no-brainer.   But choosing to remember that this person is close to entering a new life with Christ and to join others who have gone before her, is a conscious decision I have to make over and over again.  God has numbered each day of our lives and marks the day of death as precious, in fact, more so, than the day of our birth.  Remembering this truth is more than ‘spiritualizing” a painful reality; it is grasping the one reality and not letting go of the other.  As I walk through these next months with my family, I am not going to just sing one tune.  I’m going to remember the other one—the one Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection gives me the confidence to sing.