Realities of Life

I was confronted last night with a reality that I have been trying to deny. Up to this point, my 27 years has not dealt me too many tough blows. By most standards I've had it fairly easy when it comes to suffering, pain, and death. Well, I guess maybe that started to change 2 years ago when my dad's mom passed away. I was not terribly close to her, but as my grandmother losing her hurt.

Then just last November my mom's dad died. To date this was easily the most difficult loss for me. I could (and did) write a whole post about grandpa. While his passing hit much closer to home (because I'd had more contact with and spent more time with him than anyone I'd lost previously) I was still able to reconcile the loss with 2 facts. One, he was a believer and would no longer be in pain. Two, he lived a good long life, left an incredible legacy, and it was time for him to go to his reward.

My aunt (mom's oldest sister) has been battling cancer for a couple of years now (I can't remember when she was first diagnosed, but this has been a long process). At first we hoped and prayed that it could be confined and defeated. For the last several months it seemed more and more clear that only something God could do would rid her of the now spreading cancer. Even still I found myself praying that God would bring healing, hoping that He would choose to glorify Himself by astonishing the doctors and healing her completely. And I still pray that He might do that.

Until last night I had not heard a timeline. The hospice nurse has apparently told my uncle that patients usually have about 4 weeks from the time they are no longer to eat or drink. As I understand it, she basically hasn't been able to eat or drink (though clearly she must be getting some fluids to live more than a couple of days) anything substantial since last week.

While my aunt is a believer and I know that like grandpa she will be far better off after she passes away than she is right now, this reality is a sobering one for me. Perhaps this hits closer to home because she is in my parents generation and I'm not really ready yet to deal with the concept of my parents getting older. My dad's brother died in January 2001, but he was 10-12 years older than my dad so I didn't really give it as much thought as I am forced to do with my mom's sister (who is actually about a month younger than my dad is).

I'm rambling. Just a couple of thoughts to close.

While the whole family will hurt if and when my aunt passes away, I find myself grieved for her son. He is about 10 years my senior, but has always been my favorite cousin (to give you an idea how deep this runs, I started paying attention to OSU when he was in school there). His dad has not been part of his life in a significant way (that any of us are aware of at least) in a couple of decades. He lost his sister about 15 years ago to suicide. And now faces the stark reality of losing his mother. There's not a lot to say, I just hurt for him and for his 3 daughers (one of whom is still very young).

To avoid closing this in a totally depressing manner, I found some encouragement this morning as I was reading my Bible. I was reading from Revelation 21 this morning and found great comfort in verse 4, "'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." In this verse John is quoting Isaiah 25:8. While the context of the chapter doesn't really relate to losing loved ones, this verse does give me hope that when Christ returns, He will make all things new and we will no longer face the bitter realities of our fallen world. If you read Isaiah 25:9 (the verse after the one John was quoting) we find, "In that day they will say, 'Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.'"

This post is somewhat more personal than I typically write. My hope is that someone who finds themself hurting from the loss of a loved one or friend or dealing with the liklihood of that occurance in the near future my take comfort in the hope we have in Christ. While we cannot escape loss and pain in this life, Christ offers hope of salvation and a future free of death and everything associated with it.

[Note: I apologize to the biblical scholars who might be reading along if I butchered the contextual uses of these verses.]