I’ve been trying to write something for the past month, but nothing has felt right. And then these past few weeks tragedy struck my hometown. Three young people I knew from my community passed away. Two of them I was close with growing up. Initially, I wanted to write about how God can give you peace in any situation, or that when something tragic like this happens you need to stay close to God, so you don’t become numb. But as I was sitting there thinking about these things, I knew that If I told you these things then I would have to live up to them, and I’m not quite sure I can. While I am at peace now, I wasn’t, and who knows If I will be when something else in my life happens. That’s the same thing as feeling numb. Right now, I’m letting my emotions free and I’m talking to God about how I’m feeling, but again who knows if I’ll do this later down the road. So, while these experiences may have not taught me those things, God used them to teach me something else.
The first thing is life is short, you never know when you or someone you love may pass. And losing someone you love will hurt, but this doesn’t mean we should stop loving, if anything we should love more. Last year my grandpa got sick, and seeing the way my grandmother was broke me. The love they have for each other is unreal, but the pain I saw in her eyes and her voice honestly scared me. I became afraid to love because I was afraid to lose that love. I even decided that I would stay single because it had to be better than going through that heartache. And if you know me you know how big of a romantic, I am so it was tough. I talked to a friend about how I was feeling, and we began to read a book by C.S. Lewis called, “The Four Loves.” This book allowed me to realize how great loving someone truly is, and how it is better to love someone and lose them, rather than to not have that love at all. I believe this goes with any type of relationship. Romantic, friendships, and even animals. I know I am super thankful to have loved and known those two friends than to have not known them at all. So, while their passing did hurt, I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to love them.
The second thing I learned was at the funeral of sweet Madi. I wrote about Madi’s testimony before but boy her testimony was still going strong even after death. My mom said she preached her own funeral, and she did. On social media there were many things written or posted about Madi, most of them talking about her faith and her testimony, how her story helped people even after she passed. I thought to myself, will people be able to talk about me like that? I’m not saying this for you to comment on anything, but for you to look deep down and think if you were to go today how would people talk about you, more importantly, would your faith even be a point of conversation?
So, with all that being said, don’t stop loving. But also, don’t forget the reason we’re here. Tell those you love and even strangers about the Love God has for them, so that one day when they do go, you know you’ll see them in heaven someday.