“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
– Matthew 5:16

Often our perspective and experiences with death and mortality affect our witness as a light for Christ.  When those that have come before us leave this earth, we are allowed to slow down and reflect on their lives.  We get to decide what we want to repeat as well as the things we don’t want to pass on to the generation that follows us.  Good, bad, or indifferent, we’re always going to leave behind a witness of character – times when we were an example of change and eternal perspective and times when we just skated by accepting the sinful actions of this world as okay.  In these moments after death, we get to choose how the legacy of the previous generation shapes us so that we can shape the next generation.

When a peer leaves earth before we do, we get to look into the abyss, evaluate our own mortality, and think on how we’ll face death.  Will we be an example of courage and strength or of selfishness?  If given the chance, will we make sure those we’re leaving behind are taken care of?  Will we settle unfinished business and release our family to move on and find joy after we’re gone?  Will we still be walking forward shining His light, or will we have given in to our narcissism by then?  This gap left by someone so close can stop us in our tracks, but we get to choose if we want to carry on despite our pain.  If we are honest, this process of seeing someone close to us die, can allow us to make changes in our lives so that we can have resolve to be an example of love to help others or continue life with bitterness and resentment because of the loss.

When those that go before us and we remember their birthday as well as the day of their passing, we are often stunned and left numb.  In these first few moments, we just leave the world in unbelief.  We’re stunned to our core, and we just want to freeze so that the knowledge of their death never becomes reality.  As time continues, despite our willingness to stop, the prayer is that we can begin to laugh about the good times that we had and capture the essence that God had in them as we continue on.  We know that their unique light will never shine exactly the same, but that the giver of that light has not changed.  And His message has not changed: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18).  Our losses may never make sense, but as our hearts are stayed upon Him, He will give us what we need to carry on just as He always has, so we must continue to be an example of this to others that remain in our care.

This life is fleeting and temporary.  There are no guarantees.  All that we have is the moment in front of us, so take advantage of these opportunities remembering that what is important are the memories that we make along the way and the witness of His love that we are to others.  We will always carry the memories and the purpose that we shared with those we cared for and the legend of those that came and went before us that helped to pave the way.   They are a part of our story and legacy just as they were when they were beside us.  They just got to their destination before we did.  God would not have given us the task to carry on if He didn’t think that we could.  We can, and will probably always, carry some of the sadness and grief, but I pray that we can let go of the bitterness of their departure to the one who put the spark of life in each of us.

We will always look backwards with anger and look forward with no hope until we decide to trust Him.  If we don’t, we’ll never keep going, and we’ll only create more regrets by treating those around us with bitterness.  I have to choose His truth and remember that this life is not about me, but it is about being a light of hope and love despite my circumstances and realizing that this life is just the beginning.  It is just a test of whether we’ll succumb to the illusion that this world is the final destination.

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
– 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

– Kati

Meet the authors.
Listen to us discuss our blogs on our YouTube channel.