Death is Like a Rude Visitor

"Death is like a rude visitor.  It sometimes arrives unannounced.  Other times, we see it coming.  It does not care about our feelings.  It takes no concern for the inconvenience it brings.  It wants only to be served and to be answered.  It takes who it wants and all we can do is sit helplessly by as it stomps through our lives making a mess of our emotions, wreaking havoc with those who are left to pick up the pieces.  Death brings discomfort and inconvenience.  It injures our hearts, robs us of joy, and takes from us our loved ones...

"Our mortality becomes all the more evident when a loved one dies.  We are reminded of the failings of our own bodies when we look at the frail and empty shell of the one we have loved.  We are reminded of where we are headed.  We see the horizon as it approaches.  Sometimes we look away.  Other times we stare out into the distance wondering when and how it will come.  We wait.  We know it will come because we sense its work on our bodies as they slowly succumb to its touch.  We ache, slow down, get sick, and endure the frame that imprisons us."

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These are words from an article I sought out after my grandfather passed today. I was looking for something I could relate to and hear after the crippling news, yet I still feel uneasy. I feel like I should have been there, but selfishly am glad I wasn't because it doesn't quite feel real yet. It is a very odd feeling to lose a loved one. Like I read and reposted, i feel discomfort, i feel robbed, and i feel the reality check of death walking down the street. My mortality as a young male is seldom remembered, instead arrogantly considered to be invincibility.

Yet in this time of pain and suffering that comes with a lost loved one, I still thank God. I thank Him that He even gave me a grandfather; one that loved and taught me, that loved my mother and raised her and gave her the attributes that she handed down to me. I am thankful for the 19 years I was able to spend with him, and that in those years he never ran out of stories to tell the grandchildren. I also thank God for removing him from the aches and pains caused by sin in the world that, although I fear losing my family and friends, I would be glad to be freed from as well... wouldn't we all?

I pray for comfort to my family in tragic times of losing a loved one, a father, a husband, and a grandfather. I pray for healing of broken hearts and wounded souls. Last but most importantly, I pray the Gospel work in the affected hearts and the work of God shine through in times of darkness. I pray that though Death be a visitor, his sting calmed with a quiet hush.

   "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

Psalm 23:4

John M. Swidecki 3/20/29 - 3/26/11