CHERISHED MOMENTS. Many
years ago one of our friends, Lowell Lundstrom, wrote a song by that title, and
as young kids at home, my siblings and I learned to play it on the piano and we
memorized all of the words so we could sing it together. The words were powerful ~ simply a message about
“what I’d give if I could live life one more time … I’d cherish every moment
that was mine!” I guess we think a
little more about how we are living OUR lives when someone we love is taken
Home to be with the Lord. Our family
never dreamed that soon after the new year, our lives would be changed so
quickly with Mom Jones’ sudden hospitalization and ultimately her Home-going
just five days later. With the
realization that doctors and medicine can offer nothing more, eternity zooms in
much closer than usual. Watching your
loved one struggle with life’s final battle with pain, your mind and heart runs
a new assessment on the options. There
was a part of our hearts that longed for her to be well and whole and healed on
this side of heaven, but when God’s Spirit within lets you know – this time,
it’s His time – we knew it was time to
embrace whatever His best for Mom was.
And as the hours ticked by, we could sense she was getting nearer to her
Lord and the heavenly home she was longing to go to! We knew the years of suffering had been long
and not at all easy… so with glory now in view, how could we hold her
here? Jesus was waiting! Her husband was heading to the gates! Her mom and dad and a host of others would be
standing nearby. What a welcoming party
awaited her! As she breathed her last,
easily and softly … that moment came.
That defining moment that ends our life here on earth ~ and begins our
forever life with our Lord and Savior!
In the stillness of that moment, there’s a beauty about the death of a
child of God, unlike others. In those
last moments, the struggle is no more; only sweet release and peace. As if by a magic pen, the constricted muscles
and wrinkles fade away … and we see a beautiful lady who has fought the good
fight with a strong faith in her God who was with her every day of her
life. Here, she is quiet and still, and
within minutes she looks years younger!
But up there ~ just imagine her in heaven! Tears come, joyful tears at the knowledge
that she is now completely whole and healed – with not even a memory of the
pain suffered here on earth! We can
smile through our tears, because she is with Jesus … more alive and happy and
free than she has ever been in her 81 years on this earth! We picture her moving freely and swiftly o’er
those golden streets, running here and there through flower-laden meadows, We see her and dad walking now hand in hand,
neither with any of the limitations that took their health captive for so
long. Her crippled, twisted, arthritic
hands – now smooth and straight and painless!
She can use them to do a myriad of beautiful things in this new life of
hers that will never end! Can you
imagine? She can once again write songs
with music and lyrics to praise her Lord as she gazes on His face of love; and
these new songs will outshine any she ever wrote on earth! Oh, I could go on and on – for how can we
ever still our imaginations of what being in heaven must be like! From time to time, the realities of this old
world remind us of the sadness we feel without Mom here with us. Yet, that is far overshadowed by the hope of
that sweet reunion with her someday when we hear God call our name! Now, it is our turn to rise to the privilege
of being known as the older generation.
We will not shrink from its duties or struggles – we will embrace its
God-given opportunities to impact our generations who follow us. We will take up the torch of our loved ones
now with Jesus, and stand in the gap praying even more for our children and
their children, for every generation God allows us to see and be a part of! As God’s children, may we not have to wish
that we could live our lives again.
Let’s live the lives that God has given us, by His Spirit, power, and
anointing – and all the while, cherishing every moment that we have with our
loved ones on this earth! Thank you,
Mom, for being “you” ~ we will see you in heaven someday soon!
REMEMBER . . . We are really,
truly, just traveling through this world.
Listen to this . . .
“But our
citizenship is in heaven.
and we
eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who, by the
power that enables Him
to bring
everything under His control,
will
transform our lowly bodies
so that they will be like His glorious body.”
~ Philippians
3:20-21
Serving Christ Joyfully . . .
Pastor Doug and Debbie
