October 27 Martha's Musings

In the past five weeks, I have attended four funerals/memorial services. Now many of you might think this could be disheartening. That was my initial thought, too. But looking back on them now, I have a different view. At these services, I learned things about the deceased that I had not known. Cute things, funny quirks. These services were planned by the surviving family members of the deceased, and I know first-hand just how hard that can be. But despite their grief and overwhelming sense of loss, they all managed to come together as a group and paint a lovely verbal picture of the person they loved so dearly. In life, we humans have certain things in common. We live, we love; we work, we suffer; we learn, we wish we had learned more; we hope, we dream; we put ourselves first, we learn to put others first; we laugh, we cry; we argue, we apologize; we are impatient with others before we learn that patience is frequently disguised as kindness; we are intolerant of petty differences and blind to huge ones; and we fail to focus on the only reality which matters, and that is the hope of salvation through the death the Our Savior Jesus Christ. It makes me a little giddy to attend the service of someone that I believe with all my heart is now resting safely in the hands of Our Lord. That I have had the opportunity to actually know someone who is now in heaven – RIGHT NOW! – fills me with such hope. These lovely, funny, hardworking, kind, normal human beings – people just like you and me – have achieved the ultimate goal. To me, this means that there is hope for little old me. Because I have faith, I also have hope.

Blessings,
Martha Arizpe, St. John’s Prayer Team Ministry