Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Dying
What is dreaded (then suffered) in the lingering death of a loved one is both the dying (since recovery is not possible or at least not expected), and the dying itself. Thus, one is deeply torn: my loved one should not continue in this advanced state of decay and debility; it should end in death. Yet death, how horrible it is when it takes your loved one! Such life--if we dare to love at all--"under the sun" (Ecclesiastes) and amidst this groaning cosmos (Romans 8:18-26).
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I hold on tightly to those verses in Romans 8.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, while living in the States, it seemed as if signs of dying were "hidden" or at least covered up. Abortions done in a clean doctor's office; the elderly are often placed in nursing homes (not that it's wrong) -- so I never really saw much of the effects of death on people. After moving overseas, the "stench" of death is just around a person all the time; people laying in the streets; people digging through garbage; elderly people sitting silently in chairs along the road. It's almost depressing, were it not for the hope that participating in the human experience awards us. It's one thing that has made the resurrection of Jesus, God's Son and Christ, so important in the entire scheme of existence. He showed God's intentions and methods in a real, personal way. That is hope, indeed.