Times of Grief

            I lost a patient last week.  Her room was right next to my office, and she would frequently call out my name, asking for help.  She had heart and respiratory problems and was always very anxious and needed a lot of reassurance just to get through the day.  Eventually, she became weaker and weaker, and finally she succumbed to her illness.

     In my line of work, I suppose I should get used to people coming to the end of their lives and passing away.  But, as much as I am intellectually prepared for this, each time it happens, I feel like something is wrong.  I can’t shake the idea that it isn’t supposed to be like this.  How can something so natural feel so foreign?

            This idea has hit me many times, until I finally came to the conclusion that it feels so foreign because it really wasn’t meant to be like this at all.  God originally designed this world, and each of us, for eternity.  He set the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, and this same tree is mentioned in Revelation to be in the earth made new.  God’s promise of eternal life would be meaningless if He couldn’t really provide it, and if we didn’t so desperately desire it.

            I praise God that even through times of tragedy, He gives us the assurance that He is with us in all our trouble, and that He has something so much more incredible awaiting us.