Puzzles
1 Jun
Not too far away, easily within an hours’ drive, a young lady, a few years younger than me, probably, endures another night without her husband. Suddenly taken away by the sweeping hands of death.
I cannot fathom the pain. I cannot fathom the shock.
Yet, I am strangely touched by the situation. I have no real idea why.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen her a good many times in life, a lively young lady with a ready smile. Very athletic, very friendly, very outgoing, and known and loved by many.
Now, her heart is broken. I hear she is holding up well, yet, even I, who did not know her husband at all, feel a strange emptiness.
While I watched my son play baseball, or at least as we prepared for the game, somewhere a few miles away, a man died. Suddenly.
As I concerned myself with a bat hitting a ball or a glove, the enormity of life and death hung precariously in the balance for a moment. A sudden event, and the umpire of all eternity called a man to his final home.
The biting question for me is this – How many times do men, and women, who do not know my Saviour, suddenly die while I simply pass the time of day, and yet I never feel the slightest pain for them? I assume, based on limited knowledge, that this particular man was a believer in Christ, but so many are not.
Words fail me as I try to make the lurking question express itself somehow.
I do not feel guilt for being at the baseball game. That in itself is not the issue. The twisted, distorted puzzle of life sometimes throws me curves. Me being somewhere else would not have stopped the death of this man.
Yet I sorrow for those who grieve, and I sorrow for the sudden cessation of the wonderful gift of life.
So, I puzzle. In a certain sense, I have no control over the spiritual condition of anyone. I can, hopefully, influence some. I can, hopefully, point them to the Saviour and allow the Holy Spirit to “use” me to guide them. Yet, there are many that I will never even meet, and many that will never know Christ. That breaks my heart, but it should break it even more.
And I sorrow as I puzzle.
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Good thoughts B. I have often wondered what people are thinking as I have been riding in a hearse after doing a funeral. When I am driving and pull over for a funeral procession out of respect, I wonder what they are thinking. Then when my own mother died I saw it from a different perspective. Life went on for them while I hurt. At least you thought about them. many would not even do that. Life would continue on as it always did. I have to admit times of deep concern for others and times of a lack of it. There is a puzzle I will never figure out. Appreciate your sensitivity to others. Sorrow over this young woman’s loss.
Wow, came here to thank you for stopping by…and got so much more. I think out of everything you wrote here this got me the most. “I assume, based on limited knowledge, that this particular man was a believer in Christ, but so many are not.”
My Dad said something to me a couple of nights before Mom passed. He said that they never went by how nice someone was to use as a scale of whether or not someone was saved. That got me. I don’t feel so nice alot of times, I feel passionate to get through. Don’t know if I just made sense, but thank you for writing this. Our time is short, we need to accept, present and let the Holy Spirit do His thing.
Blessings,
Debs