Loss

I recently lost a friend to death. He lived a good long life. He was the most unique person that I have ever met. I will miss him greatly. He taught me that it was ok to ‘just be yourself’ no matter what others thought. He taught me to be brave and to stand up for your ideas and what you believe in. He taught me to live out your dreams and to learn to please yourself as well as pleasing others. His priorities were God, his family, his friends, and having fun. Those priorities weren’t necessarily in that order because he lived all of them out simultaneously. One priority complimented the other.

While attending his funeral I came to realize that my entire life is just a prelude to my funeral. How will I be remembered? What will I have accomplished? What kind of impact will I make? Who will I love? What will my priorities be? These are the things that people will remember you by.

If you’ve never been to a funeral, go to one. Even if you don’t know the person….just look in the obituaries and show up respectfully to a stranger’s funeral. Sit in silence and respectfully observe. Watching human death rituals like funerals give us a whole new outlook on life. It shows us how temporarily we are here on earth and how small the time is that we have to make a difference on this planet. It shows us that we need to make a decision of who we will follow into death: Jesus Christ or someone else? It gives you a greater sense of purpose and makes you come face to face with your own mortality. It makes you realize that you too will die someday. It also prepares you for loosing a loved one of your own. This will happen in our life so it’s important to know how to deal with it.

I thank God for the lessons that he teaches me each day and I look forward to every path he takes me down because from Glory to Glory He’s changing me!