After church yesterday I attended the memorial services of a friend's wife, who had been struggling against a degenerative disease for some time. The service was intimate and brief and moving, especially when my friend's daughter stood and told us what a great mom she'd had over the years. It's times like these that make you think about the mortality of your own loved ones. I sit and look around the downstairs play room and wonder what the future holds for everyone that I hold dear.
My friend said something interesting, both sad in a good way and sad in a sad way. He said that life is like reading a book. You're just reading along and turning the pages, enjoying what you have in front of you, and then all of a sudden you turn the page and there's no more writing. You stop and you think, 'Oh. That was it. That was the last page.' In his wife's case he now thinks back, 'Wow, what a good book that was.'
I'm not sure of his or her religious views but I know that, as for me and my house, when the last page is turned and we're all left staring at a blank piece of paper, there's another book sitting on the shelf. Beloved, the sequel of my life has already been written. It just hasn't been released yet. It is rich and full and it's a whole lot longer than volume one. And so I look around the downstairs play room and I'm comforted that God has a plan in place. He has the next book of my life tucked under his arm and He is waiting for just the right time to hand it over. That's a good feeling to have. I pray that all of you feel the same way.
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5 comments:
Cool concept, Jeff. Thanks for sharing your friend's observation.
I am happy to say my sequel and those of the ones I love are also well-written, I sure hope my book is one of those door-stopper mega-tomes :)
I'm sure it is.
The one difference, that of course I didn't offer as constructive criticism at the time, is that in a book you know you're getting to the end. With a death of a loved one it's more like cruising along through the middle chapters and then finding out that the printer decided to take the rest of the day off, leaving you with nothing but empty pages until the back cover. That just doesn't have quite the poetic punch as his version though.
Wow - this is really inspiring. I needed to read this. I just lost someone very special and was really comforted by this post and your thoughts on our "sequels." Would you mind if I used this idea when I speak at the funeral this coming weekend? I think my family would understand the analogy well and it would speak to the non-believers as well. Please.
Amy, you go right ahead a use this idea. If it helps, you can also read Andrew's Eulogy which is linked over at the right.
Thanks Jeff! I appreciate your kindness and fellowship. I'll definitely be visiting regularly. Thanks again.
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