At Life's End
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying "there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes". And it's certainly true that all of us will pay taxes and have to face death someday, plus many of us will have to endure caring for a loved one who is terminally ill as their life ebbs away. The end of life is one of the deepest and darkest valleys that we have to face, yet even in the depths, we have the love, faith, and hope of Christ to light our journey through the darkness.
Psychologists tell us that our first reaction to the prospect of death is denial. “No wait, this can’t be right, this can’t be happening to me, It’s not my time,” And because the diagnosis is terminal, our minds deny its inevitability. Denial helps us at that moment, simply because our minds are unable to process the magnitude of the news. Denial serves to buffer the effects of the bad news upon the mind, allowing us to accept it slowly, bit by bit. However, denial is short-term, as we need to accept the certainty of what lies ahead.
Another reaction is anger, it’s normal when faced with the evil and suffering of our death or that of someone close to us. Death can seem cruel and unfair. Especially when someone has died too young or if retirement plans with grandchildren are wrenched away. We can feel angry at the person who has died, or even angry at ourselves for things that we did or didn’t do while they were alive. We can feel anger at the doctors for not diagnosing the problem sooner. We can even feel anger at God for allowing this to happen as we cry out "why Lord".
Our anger often manifests itself through frustration, impatience, and resentment, as we lash out in rage, mostly at those who love us most. Along with feelings of being robbed of life and control, alcohol can often be a straw that is grasped as a way to numb the hurt and anxiety.
The fight or flight response can also kick in, and with no place to run, all any of us can do is stand and fight. Our fighting spirit raises itself to meet the challenge. “I’m not going to let this thing beat me”, It’s a natural human reaction, that is both positive and helpful, simply because sometimes through God, in our fight he lets us overcome.
In these battles we often experience fear. Fear is a constant presence that we need to fight against. It can be fear of treatments, procedures, surgery, It can be fear of how our loved ones will cope and even the experience of dying itself. Remember, the night before his crucifixion and death on the cross, even our Lord sweated drops of blood in the garden as he prayed, “Father take this cup from me, yet not my will but thine”. In fear, we can lose hope, as despair rushes in to fill its place, as our spirit plummets into the deepest darkest of valleys. We find comfort in the words of Psalm 23:4.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Eventually, comes acceptance, as the darkness of despair yields to quietness and peace and we accept the inevitability of death. As believers, we have hope, for we are never alone on our journey, Paul writes,
Romans 14:7-8
For none of us live for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
In our last few weeks or days, our life takes on a quiet peaceful serenity of its own, as the Holy Spirit gives us sufficient inner peace and strength to see us through to eternity.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
As believers, we have joy knowing that when this life is done, we will put on the eternal, our lives will be made fully new, we will be given new incorruptible bodies, and every tear will be wiped away.
2 Corinthians 5
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.
A tent, a fabric tabernacle that contains the soul, that's one way to describe our earthly bodies. May ours be worn out and in flitters when it comes our time to go home.
Remember, He never leaves us, God bless,
Trev.