Skip to main content

Lessons From a Funeral

My wife's grandma passed last week. She was 95, had faith in Jesus and was ready to go home. Here are some of the highlights. 

Family is very important.

I mean this from a Christian point of view as well as a physical factor. Having someone to hug, someone to reminisce with and someone to understand what you're going through is vital to the healing process. This particular week meant not having my wife around for a few days, while funeral preparations were made. While I may someday declare my heroics of taking care of the kids as a single dad, I'll admit that 1-course meals and outfits which may or may not match is nothing compared to the emotional strength my wife provided and offered to her family. 

Taking a timeout from regular life, both to celebrate the life of a loved family member and also to consider our own mortality is only made richer when the words, embraces and casseroles of our Christian brothers and sisters surround us. 

Considering what it's like "for those who have no hope" in the face of death only instills in me a hunger to make sure no one is without. 

There were so many teachable moments for our children. 

My kids are still young. While this was not the first time they had heard of death, this was the first service they went to, the first viewing they experienced and the first time they got to contemplate the sequence of events; from "great grandma is sick" to "great grandma may not make it" to "I have to tell you something."

We talked about the purpose of a viewing, to why we put our bodies in a box. All the while, we kept reminding our kids about the truth of Scripture, that "we don't mourn like those who have no hope." We kept assuring them that God did answer their prayers to relieve great grandma of any pain. We rejoiced that we would someday be reunited with her in Heaven. 

Any trip or event with children is bound to provide laughter, if you keep your eyes open. 

I explained that funerals are celebrations much like a wedding. My kids, apparently paying attention, noted that a wedding means cake and a funeral mean pie. Well, they aren't wrong about that! 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl
Post a Comment
Read more

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a
Post a Comment
Read more

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d
Post a Comment
Read more