Stages of Life

My somber mood today is due to two situations I am made aware of that are completely independent of each other.  The first was the knowledge of a possible suicide of an 18 year old girl who was pregnant. The Facebook post by her mom was “My (child) is dead.”  I didn’t know her or her family real well but well enough to be at a loss for words and to have a lump in my throat since I heard about it.  It’s hitting me hard having lost my own daughter, and the 30-year anniversary of her death coming up in August.  

The second situation is an elderly man and his wife having no choice but to be moved into assisted living.  It’s the best decision all the way around but it was heartbreaking to watch him having to give up all he worked so hard for.  And those were his words.  

So, I’ve been trying to find the silver lining.  I am reminded of a dream someone had about a father and his child on a playground.  The child fell and got hurt and was crying.  The child’s father was holding out his arms to comfort the hurting child.  The child came running, seemingly into the father’s open and loving arms.  But much to the father’s disbelief the child ran past him into the arms of another.  

I don’t know if that is a good analogy of these situations or not.  I don’t know all the details but I do know the Father is holding out His arms ready to comfort us.  God the Father is always there to receive us, despite our condition.  

In the case of the man who has to “give up all he worked so hard for,”  all I can think of is that perhaps it is a lesson to the rest of us to work for those things that do not perish, those things you can take to Heaven with you, the people you have helped lead there.  

In Matthew 6 19-21, Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This is my goal. If someday I have to move into an assisted living facility I will be a living testimony to the staff and the other residents of the power and love of Jesus.  I will look for people to pray for everyday as I do now.  I will not allow age to make me a victim of physical limitations, nor will I be a burden.  The value of a life of following Jesus will be evident and contagious to the people I will interact with every day.  

In the book of Daniel after the decree had been issued that anyone caught praying to other gods would be put into the lion’s den the following Scripture shows what Daniel did:

Daniel 6:10 - Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (emphasis added)

The key is “just as he had done before.”  Storms in life will come and are made easier when you know the Father ahead of time.

With the young girl, life may have became too much to look toward life’s challenges.  With the older man he was looking back wishing for things in the past.  I don’t have easy answers for these situations. In both cases I believe the Father was/is holding out his arms for His child to be embraced by Him. At the end of a long day of contemplating both situations with love and sadness, I’m going to go talk to my Daddy some more, just as I have done before.