As you know, my husband, Dick, died on May 6 of this year. When you have been married to someone for 61 years death suddenly becomes a painful reality. In fact, as many of you know who are widows and widowers, the pain never stops, maybe lessens, but never stops. Here it is, three and a half months later, and I feel more grief now than I did on May 6. Memories float in and out of my mind. I find myself talking to Dick who is not there, I turn around thinking he is right behind me, I cherish the pen he always kept in his pocket, I smile when his favorite dessert is on the menu, and I appreciate comments about his life.
Dick and I had fully planned and talked about funeral arrangements and we had made decisions years ago. We chose cremation with a simple wooden box to hold the ashes, instead of an open casket, viewing a dead body with heavy make-up on the face, expensive coffin, and costly burial. So, a few days after Dick's death, he was cremated. One of our daughters picked up the the box of ashes from the funeral home and brought it to me. Now, keep in mind, I was still battling corona virus and quite ill. The box of ashes was delivered to me a few weeks after Dick died. The plan now is for me to keep the box in my possession, and after my death our ashes will be buried side by side in the Weisiger family burial plot in Wyckoff, NJ. I opened the box of ashes when I was alone and then the shock hit me. My husband, who I had held in my arms as he was dying just a few weeks before, was there in the box. But now he was a pile of dark ashes sitting in a heavy plastic bag. Where was that precious, athletic, loving man? Just a pile of ashes? Suddenly I felt sick, almost threw up as I stared at the ashes. It seemed as if the ashes were screaming at me, "He's dead! He's dead! He's dead!" Then, I thought, what have we done....reducing our bodies to a pile of ashes?
But then I remembered. Our dead, physical bodies do rot, decay and end up in ashes, even inside a beautiful, costly coffin. And this is where the spiritual bodies become a reality. We cannot totally comprehend the spiritual world because we live in a physical world. But the spiritual world is real. If you believe in Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ you believe in a spiritual world. Our physical bodies die when our hearts stop beating, blood stops flowing and bodily functions no longer work. If we are dead, the billions of cells in our bodies screech to a sudden halt. But, as believers, we are then transported to our spiritual home in eternity where there is no death. And guess who transports us to Paradise? Angels!
Remember the Biblical story in Luke 16 about the rich man and the beggar? "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side". In Luke 24:51 we read in the King James Version about Jesus on the day of ascension, "While He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven". Thus we can assume that angels carried Jesus into heaven. Therefore, what about us? Can we assume that after our hearts stop beating and our lungs stop breathing we will be escorted and carried to the heavenly realms by smiling angels? That thought really thrills me with joy and I hope you feel the same way.
Yes, death is something we don't like to talk about. But when death hits our loved ones, we are forced to talk about it. We are happy for our loved ones who are believers that die because we know they are being carried by angels to live in heaven where God is with them. But those of us who are left behind are engulfed with sobs of grief. Right now we are left alone and cry every day as we miss our dear ones. So let the tears flow, and don't apologize because God gave us tears for a reason. Our grief proves to ourselves and others the depth of our love.
