July 10, 2012
Getting Our Affairs in Order
For many years I encouraged my mom to sort through her things and get
rid of stuff she didn’t need. Her solution was to put everything in storage and
keep on accumulating. The last couple weeks of her life I begged and pleaded
with her to not leave me with piles of stuff to sort through. Selfishly I
didn’t want to be dealing with all her stacks of papers and plastic bags while
I should be considering her end-of-life issues and grieving. Since my mom
passed away a little over a week ago it has crossed my mind that she found it
easier to go home to be with the Lord than to dispose of any of her treasures. Very
few of us have our affairs in order for when we die and we give little thought
to the fact that someone is going to have to clean up our mess. Jesus on the
other hand, always practiced what He preached. Not only were His affairs in
order, but Jesus also made arrangements for John to take care of His mother
when He was gone.“When Jesus saw his mother there,
and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear
woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your
mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:26-27a NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Thank you for sharing these aspects of your situation with us the last few days. This one is striking. I think I love my wife and family. And I think the most real expression of that love is in how I effect their spiritual, emotional, and mental lives. Death of a loved one is a big effect. And like you say, to leave them with a big mess having a few important matters stirred in is to subject them to a high degree of anxiety during a grievous period. I don't want that.
-----It’s been about a year now that I’ve been thinking about organizing my clutter and paring the trash from it. But it feels too strange to begin dealing with the aspects of my death now. For Pete’s sakes, I’m very healthy! But for truth’s sake, the death process begins at conception and occasionally the Mack truck travels one’s own path. Whether death arrives later by natural processes or today with tire impressions, it comes.
-----So you’ve inspired an adjustment to my thinking which I hope will alleviate some strangeness of dealing with the aspects of my death. Since it began traveling my path at the moment I was conceived, it is only realistic that I acknowledge it in the arrangements of my effects while I live.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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