“Life is to be lived.” 

“People are meant to be celebrated.”

“Adventure is out there waiting to be explored.” 

“Memories are still out there to be made.”

“Be in the pictures, take all the pictures and look through them often.”

All great things. Yet grief stops you in your tracks almost as if you are wearing concrete shoes. Then when you hear the phrases above it is almost an insult at times because you just want to respond with, “don’t you remember what happened?” or “don’t you remember who I lost?” Either response would be fitting and yet we continue to grieve in silence and refuse to speak up. I would gather that most of us don’t speak up because we don’t want to rehash everything that has happened, or we know the people advising us mean well and truly love us. Yet the pain is still there. The thought of living life without our person is painful. It hurts deep in our soul and yet hope flickers dimly. For me, the dim flicker of hope was always there and the flicker grew the closer I leaned into my Heavenly Father. Yet I see people everywhere that cannot even seem to find that flicker. It makes me wonder how much they lean toward their Heavenly Father or if they even truly know Him. It also makes me wonder how I can help them or rather how I can show them the real Jesus and help them understand just how much He truly cares. 

Think back to what you know of the story of Lazarus. He and Jesus were close friends and Lazarus’s sisters were part of the friendship as well. In fact it was Lazarus’ sisters who were the ones that sent for Jesus when Lazarus was dying. Jesus delayed his trip to see his friend and Lazarus died. After a time Jesus and his disciples made the trek to see Lazarus and his sisters. When they arrived they found that Lazarus had been dead for a while and his sisters were angry and grieving. They had questions for Jesus. They wondered why. Why did he not come and heal their brother so he would live? Why did Jesus wait so long to come see Lazarus? It was at this point we read the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” You see Jesus did not get to see his friend before he passed away. Jesus did not get to say his final words to Lazarus. Jesus did not even get to participate in the funeral. However, he did grieve. He mourned and cried. He did this knowing that his next movement would be to raise Lazarus from the dead. 

• Why should we keep on living after a loved one passes away?
  • Because their life was important. They made an impact on you and your life. This impact should be shared and their legacy should be imprinted on the next generation. 
  • Because even though Jesus did not physically show up in your hospital room or at your loved ones funeral, He is with you and has been with you everyday of your life. 
  • People are meant to be celebrated. Celebrate the birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, graduations, events and anything that needs to be celebrated.
  • Adventure is out there waiting to explore it. You, yes you on the couch…go walk, go run or just go outside. 
  • Memories are still out there  to be made. Go, do and try all the things that you had an excuse for yesterday. Be stronger than your excuses! Why? Because today is a new day so go Carpe Diem that thing!
  • Be in the pictures, take all the pictures and look through them often. Think of these pictures as a gift to your kids, your grandkids, and all the generations after you. They will have a plethora of pictures of you to choose from for your memory sliedshow. I know that sounds a bit morbid, but also remember you should not always be the one behind the camera getting that perfect shot. Be in front. Be silly. Be serious. Just whatever you do, make every effort to be in more pictures. Your kids aren’t going to remember anything other than the memories that were made when that photo was taken. You are beautiful/handsome and worth photographing!

So my friends, just keep living. It might be a minute at a time or a day at a time but keep bravely putting one foot in front of the other and doing life knowing you are honoring a life well lived and one day someone else will do the same once you are gone.