More on Saying Good-Bye

I'm still on Chapter 22 of Experiencing Grief by H. Norman Wright. I've been stuck on this "Saying Good-bye" business. I don't feel like I need to say good-bye to Mom. Maybe it's the Christian understanding that it's for a little while. This is not a good-bye because I'm going to see you later. On my last day or the last day we will be reunited with our fellow believers who have gone before. I have no urge to say good-bye because that was the first thing we did when Mom died. Maybe it helped that for weeks I knew the day was coming and maybe it helped that each day I saw Mom closer and closer to death.

I still feel a lot of pain thinking about those days and weeks but the window of time that can bring up the pain of experiencing her dying and my grief gets smaller. It's at once smaller and more intense. Saying good-bye is not any source of pain. Good-bye is where joy lives. Mom's death means Mom is alive in Heaven with Jesus, our Lord and Savior. She is safe, whole, healthy, happy, and worshiping the Lord God Almighty in person. What a thrill to know with all my being that she is there!

I do understand that for many people this is not the experience of grief. That there is no joy mixed with sadness. The same journey of grief is taken and there is no hope of a tomorrow by faith. So with the sure hope of my journey someday ending with my home with Jesus where I will one day see my Mom and all who have gone before I am ready to turn the page to Chapter 23 and find out "How Your Life Will Change".

This is from a visit from Mom's brother and sister-in-law and nephew along with her twin and family. It's about 21-22 years ago judging from the size of my nephew, in the back row with the cat stuffed animal.