A final goodbye to my grandmother: Back Home

I'm back home now. It was good to see everyone. As I flew home, I reflected on my grandmother's life and her funeral. I remembered what Solomon said, "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart... The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure." (eEcclesiastes 7:2,4) Funerals make us face our own mortality. Our bodies will not live on forever, but our spirits will. The question is, where will we spend eternity? This is a question we must all ask ourselves. The scriptures teach that those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ will spend eternity with Him and will escape eternal judgment.

Funerals also make me ask myself, how am I living my life? Paul says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2) I would include my grandmother among that great cloud of witnesses. She lived her life and lived it well, and so can I. It is examples like my grandmother that encourage me and inspire me to live a godly life. We have only one life to live, so lets live it well.

David Robison