You know you've been blogging for a while when blogging becomes an important outlet for the deeper thoughts of your normal life.
Or in this case, normal death.
Today, my grandfather passed away.
As I reflected on his death, I was reminded of this post by Keith, and even more by this comment by Mere-O friend Lindsay:
One of the most satisfying elements of Christianity, for me, is its
assessment of death as an unnatural occurence. We react so strongly against it
precisely because it's an intruder, robbing us of loved ones that may have grown
old in body but whose spirits have not been exhausted.
Unlike death on a national or international level, this is my first experience of death on a personal level. My grandfather was a caring, yet often stubborn old man. He was the only member of my father's side of the family that I ever knew, and I will miss him.
The grieving process is difficult and painful, but it must be seized. I have never found the Lord more near as when I have contemplated my mortality. Now, as I contemplate mortality again, I am comforted by the fact that we serve a Lord who understands all aspects of the human experience, including death, and who provides us with hope for a new life. Death comes to all men, indeed, but life only to those who will be in Christ.
'Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. '
'Give to them eternal peace, Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.'