Fear of Death

In a fallen world torn by death and disease and destruction we are often faced with moments that seem to overwhelming to comprehend. This last year has seen the deaths of many people who were at the forefront of our society. People whom many of us grew up pretending to be. They gave us so much through their art, their lives and their talents. When someone close to us dies it creates a wound so deep, making it seem as though life cannot go on without them, and when it does there's an even harder dilemma of what to change and what to keep the same in our lives. There's a desire to keep everything absolutely as it had been with that loved one and at the same time a need to change everything. Sometimes this separation isn't caused by death, but by other causes that create rifts in relationships that will no longer be quite the same. This fear of being left alone, left behind, left out. In Luisa May Alcott's book Little Women describes this feeling well.  I have included the scene below.

Stories help us with the difficult things in life. Help us deal with emotions that are overwhelming, giving us a safe place to sort them out. Whether the stories are told in film, book, art or music it doesn't matter. I think this is one of the reasons God gave us the ability to tell stories. It also makes it hard when a beloved storyteller dies. This year has seen the death of several actors/actress's and musicians. Watching the movies they worked on, listening to their final albums has become more meaningful.

Death is a scary thing. Scary because it's not natural. We were never created for such an end. Death is part of the curse that was brought on by our fall in the garden. It is meant to make us uneasy standing out as a stark reminder of what we have lost but also what we have to look forward to. None of us know when, where or how we each will die but it is not for us to know. With this uneasiness we should move forward with greater passion, a greater desire to serve God and each other, there is so much in our lives that we could do without that gets in the way of us loving each other the way we should.

2016 has been a rough year on many fronts, but I have a proposal for 2017. Let us use this fear of death to motivate us to live life to the fullest, to take those risks, to love those around us with the love of Jesus Christ. Regardless of what the future holds lets not let the enemy overwhelm us by the many defeats of the past. So here's to a prosperous new year!