Just some musing

To use a line from my own Facebook posting this day, I was privileged today to be present when a dear saint graduated this life Magna cum Laude, with highest honors.  She was a little lady with a huge love for the Lord and for His church.  Several years ago she had become somewhat incapacitated, and yet she pushed herself hard to do whatever she could in service, and felt bad that she could not do more.  I consider her life, and feel a certain amount of shame when I think of how many times I settle for less than all I could do, or worse, settle for doing nothing at all.  Why is it that I so rarely push myself to give my best, or to do all I could do?
Ms. Betty is an example of a life well lived.  No, she wasn't perfect; she had plenty of shortcomings.  She would sometimes express her opinions in ways that could have shown more tact.  She was fiercly independent, to the point of frustration for some who sought to care for her.  But I have rarely met anyone who wanted to serve the Lord more passionately, in whatever way she could find.  If she had been a cussing person, she would have cursed the limitations of her aging body, not so much because it inconvenienced her but because it kept her from doing tasks to help others or her church.
Now she is in perfect peace, and she leaves many to grieve her leaving this life.  Her death leaves some confused & hurt.  We children of all ages can't comprehend why people we love have to go away.  Why do such wonderful people not stay with us as long as we need them?  Why do such comparatively good people suffer the ultimate (or so it seems to us) consequence of sin in the world?  Why does it so often seem like the dark wins?
Rather than answer these questions directly, our Lord responds in a different, better way.  Rather than lay out logical arguments for or against the propositions of evil, God laid out his own Son on a cross as the ultimate expression of love, and of good.  Rather than try to rationally convince us it is not as bad as it seems, God becomes Emmanuel, God with us, and walks through the darkness with us, even the dark valley of the shadow of death.  And the best news of all is that Christ not only died for us, but rose again.  The resurrection is the proof that God's plan worked, and that he has defeated the power of sin and death.  Because Christ lives, we too shall live.  Because Christ rose from the dead, Ms. Betty woke up this afternoon with no more pain, no more weakness, no more walker that she hated so much.  Because Jesus came out of that tomb so long ago, we KNOW that he is with us, and with her, so we need not fear the dark any more, ever again. 
In the meantime, we will miss having her, and so many like her, around.  In the meantime, we hold each other up and walk together through the valley, where it is still dark.  In the meantime we grieve, but not as those who have no hope.  For us it is but a temporary parting, a bit like when we send our children off to college or Boot Camp.  It hurts like crazy not having them around, but we know where they are, and we know we will see them again soon.
Goodbye, dear Betty.  Until we see each other again...