time to die? Take a pill....
Father, Please help me see Your hand at work in my life, and even when I
can’t, give me the power to walk by faith and not by sight. Right now, I
lay the broken pieces of my life at Your feet and am counting on You to
come through for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
What we need to realize is that there is dignity in dying "the old fashioned way." Maybe it isn't so politically correct and I am certain there will be many who disagree with me...but shouldn't one live with the expectation of a miracle? My own husband was in a horrific car crash when he was barely 19 years of age. Found not breathing and with a broken neck, by all accounts he should have gone to the great beyond. In his words, he WAS standing at "that door," met by his beloved grandmother and uncle. But they told him to "go back! It is not your time yet!" and thus...he did. His recovery was slow....punctuated by words from a doctor who initially felt he wouldn't survive, to "if he survives, he will never walk again!" It just goes to show what determination and a strong will can do. He is walking, talking, working...everything that a normal person does, he is doing it!
A miracle! Had the paramedics not performed their job, he'd have been left to die on a gurney, but they performed life saving CPR. Had the doctors felt, truly felt he wouldn't survive, they'd have never performed the operations that allowed him to walk again. And so on.
A miracle...isn't that what we all need in this sad, sordid, heart-breaking world? A reason to know that when we put one foot in front of the other, eventually we WILL get somewhere? If we just drop to our knees and cave in, what will we have proven to others...to ourselves...except that, by our own merits...we are nothing. However, by allowing God the grace to prove His love for us...we may be shown a Love far greater than we could have ever expected! People who may have been told, "you have just weeks to survive..." and who are STILL alive over a year later....many who are told they can never walk are walking...who have illnesses they are told they will never recover from who have recovered...miracles! WHO ARE WE TO DENY SOMEONE A MIRACLE? Who are we to play God and take away the one and only precious thing we have in this world...our life? This is not to say that we shouldn't have a Living Will...no...please do have a directive that tells others of how you wish to be cared for in your final days. What I am referring to is the concept of "take a pill and just go peacefully."
Have faith..."be still, listen and know that I am God!" These words have always rang true throughout my mind when I am up against it and down for the count...when all I have left is to look UP and beg God to hear me...and He does! The result is worthy of angels' trumpets and loud voices from heaven followed by high fives all around!
A Facebook friend posted the following link to a blog, my response is just before the link. Please read...please...don't think of dying as painful so much as "the struggle before something better." Look at what babies encounter during birth...a struggle. Look also at what baby chicks must to to come away from the egg, at what a caterpillar must do to become the butterfly. Change....struggles....who are we...who was Jesus Christ even...without them? If He could suffer for us...why are we so reluctant to also do the same?
"whew...I have to say that I thought you were espousing assisted suicide when I first saw this post. I read it, however, and I do agree in that it is in our suffering that we are set free! I think of the saints who suffered, especially Paul, especially St Francis, especially St Therese, the Little Flower....I think also of the journalist who was beheaded about a month ago after being held in a hell-like prison for almost two years and of how he also suffered before the brutality of what happened to him...of how he shared his love of the rosary. It is in our suffering that we share OUR faith...the ups, downs and hope that if even ONE person is inspired to hang in there when all is lost...THEN OUR SUFFERING & DEATH WILL NOT HAVE BEEN IN VAIN! To take the easy road and pop a pill...isn't that what mainstream media already has us believing? Incontinent? Take a pill! Hot flashes? Take a pill! Maybe we NEED to feel pain...if only to allow God's love and healing into our lives."
click here to read
Hollywood glamorizes death....even in "Love Story," or "Brain's Song," did you see how beautiful the actors looked? Yes, death is hard but so is childbirth...so is life! If we choose to give it all away by taking a pill, who have we just made happy? Who is doing the high fives, as you so elegantly put it? Take a lump of coal, put it through high heat and pressure, it becomes a diamond, one of the most valuable possessions we could have....why are we any less than that? Have faith....have hope....most of all, have courage. If Jesus, who was Divine, could suffer FOR us as an example...who are we to take the easy way out of this existence?
ReplyDeletethank you Rev Ustes. I also have seen "Brian's Song," and yes, what we know of death, Hollywood made all clean and tidy. However, the message behind it was the same....that of deep abiding love for another.
DeleteFerar does not prevent death...it prevents life. Just saw this quote and wanted to put it out there. We think taking a pill and making it so easy will become easy. How about, as you said, allowing others to view our dying process, much as Mary the mother of Jesus, John and Mary Magdalene did...yes, it IS hard...but we have grace in hardship! Satan is allowing us to believe that death is easy...he is angry because Jesus OVERCAME death! What better way to "get back" at Him than to say to us, "you can have it so much better than Him????"
ReplyDeleteTrue, Beverly, it is taking us all the way back into that Garden when Satan told Eve that to eat from the forbidden tree would make her LIKE God...knowing good from evil. And so it goes. The deception once again strikes us all.
Deletethe best gift that we can pray for is the gift of a happy death. I witnessed my father's passing...yes, he suffered the last couple of days, but it was through his suffering that I found strength and compassion within myself. There is a reason for everything in this life though we don't know it yet. Reverend, you are right, it is the devil wanting us to take the easy way out....he is the deceiver after all!
ReplyDeleteDo not look forward to the changes and chances of this life with fear. Rather, look to them with full confidence that, as they arise, God to whom you belong will in his love enable you to profit by them. He has guided you thus far in life, do you but hold fast to his dear hand, and he will lead you safely through all trials. Whenever you cannot stand, he will carry you lovingly in his arms.
ReplyDeleteDo not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. The same eternal father who takes care of you today will take care of you tomorrow, and every day of your life, either he will shield you from suffering or he will give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace then, and put aside all useless thoughts, all vain dreads and all anxious imaginations. Amen (St. Francis de Sales)
you obviously have never been so seriously sick that you would move heaven and hell to find relief. Why suffer if the chance to have a better option exists? Why expdct someone else to also watch you suffer and die?
ReplyDeleteWhy indeed? If you are new here, welcome! Rev. has said in many of her posts that she IS ill, she has Lupus AND rheumatoid arthritis. She has been in pain...has had several surgeries and lives each day to the fullest! Is it easy? no! But why take "the easy way?" Why NOT suffer? It is through pain that we are strengthened...says so in the Bible..."for when I am weak, it is then that I am STRONG!" Jesus suffered and the few who were witness to it were made strong in Faith. To allow another to view one suffering is and can be a great blessing. I myself never witnessed a parent die...I only wish that I had the time it took to allow us to bond, to forgive, to become whole...and maybe it is in that process that we learn true compassion and purification. Maybe this is the purgatory we have heard about...to pop a pill and just disappear....it just doesn't seem right.
ReplyDelete