Life and death

This morning I am blogging but I'm not sure where this post is going to go yet.   All I know is yesterday was a sad, rough day and sometimes it helps to turn to my blog to put it down on paper (so to speak!) as I gather my thoughts.

Yesterday was a day about death.   My husband's Aunt Judy died in the morning.  She had been living with Alzheimers and some physical ailments in a nursing facility for a few years so I felt it was "time" for her to leave her body.  It was time for sweet Judy to move on to heaven and be reunited with her sister and other family members already there.   So although I was sad to hear the news it was not a surprise and a bit of a relief.

I am a Christian and a believer of God's hope of life after death.  I saw Judy get baptismed and become a member of her church about ten years or so ago.  I believe she is in God's home now.

While I was at church yesterday morning I was thinking about her.   I knew she was failing.  We had heard from family that her days or hours were numbered.  So, as I have done before, I looked up at the cross behind the altar, and at the stained glass window, and I asked God to let Judy go.  I prayed to Him that she not linger.   About ten minutes after that special moment, my phone buzzed and I looked at who the call was….it was from my hubby's sister.  I knew at that moment it was the news of Judy passing on.

So, okay…  here's the interesting part.  About 6 years ago, on another November Sunday morning, I was again in church sitting in the same spot.   My hubby's mother was in a nursing home and we had gotten word she was failing.  She was getting hospice care.  In fact hubby and his sister were by her bedside.  So, I sat alone in the pew - and I looked at the cross and stained glass window and I prayed that God would go ahead and take Nannie home.   Ten minutes later my cellphone buzzed and it was a message from my hubby.  

Now, I don't think I'm psychic, or weird, or anything else…   but I do believe in the power of prayer and I believe in knowing that for everything there is a season.

My day went on yesterday, and in the early afternoon I decided to put up a picture of Judy and a tribute to her on Facebook.  I know I am addicted to FB and I use it all the time.  Some don't understand that.   I did not think anything of it, and for me it was a way of expressing my love for her.  And, I felt it was a way to spread the news of this dear woman's passing.  Let's just say it backfired and I apologize to those who I may have hurt.  I did not mean to do anything but express my love for the woman she used to be.

Just a bit later on Facebook I also saw a post that my hubby's nephew's wife also lost her Grandmother!  Another death on this same morning.   Again, I was saddened.  I do not know if she was sick or if this was a shock to the family.  I pray that it was not totally unexpected and that the family can celebrate her life.

The same Facebook that got me in trouble earlier - was used as a tribute and way to spread the word an this death.   I took no offense at it.  People responded, and I did.

Deaths come in threes.  Have you heard the expression?

Well,  last night as I was cozy, sitting on my couch and watching football I get a startled loud knock on my door.  There was my next door neighbor, crying, holding her beloved kitty in a towel.   She had just found her, already gone, laying near her porch in her backyard.   A loss of a pet is always sad.  This little kitty girl was an important bit of love for my neighbor as she goes through many changes in her life.  Divorce.  Possible moving.  Sickness.    The kitty gave unconditional love.

At that point I realized that my heart had enough…   it was a rough day.   i saw sadness and hurt. I felt it. I felt helpless.  *sigh*      It was an emotional day.  

I'm up now on a Monday morning. I am praying for peace, and I'm praying for a better day for everyone so affected by yesterday's deaths.    Life is precious.  Memories are forever.    God is there to hear our cries, to give comfort, and to help bring back the joy.  

Take care and give love.