This morning when I picked up Katy, she told me that the lady that she cares for at night told her something strange. The lady is in very poor health, and her son is visiting from Europe where he lives. This lady told Katy that she would be gone from this earth except she is supposed to stay and help her son through a difficult time he is having right now. Katy had never had anyone tell her anything like this before. It isn't really a deathbed confession as much as an understanding of what she thinks her purpose here is.
The last couple of hours since I picked her up, I've been thinking about this. It led me to remember a conversation my grandmother had with a neighbor just before she died. Some of you may have already heard this, but I find it very interesting.
My grandmother lived in one side of a double house as long as I could remember. They always had really good neighbors on the other side of the house. Well, Granny was very old and mostly bed ridden at the end. One day the neighbor Betty checked on Granny. Betty was good friends with my Aunt who lived with my grandma. Anyway, one day Betty came through the door between the houses to check on Granny. It looked to Betty, like Granny was talking to someone, so she asked, "Granny, who you talkin' to?" And Granny looked at Betty and said," I'm talkin' to Papa (our name for my Grandpa who had passed many years earlier)." Betty said,"What'd Papa have to say?" and Granny said, "he's tellin' me what to bring."----Ok, now I have never heard that you could take things with you when you pass from this earth, have you???? Then Granny said to Betty,"You know I always liked you." ------This is the key because Granny always treated Betty with a little contempt because of her friendship with my aunt. ----So, I think we bring good feelings and closure to bad relationships with us. Out Stake Pres has said more than once that he feels that our relationships are key in our salvation. I think I agree, everything we do on this earth is based on relationships with others. Many of our decisions are based on relationships.
What do you think?
Live-Life/Love-Life
4 comments:
I think that the commandment to love our neighbor as ourself is God's way of telling us that it's the relationships that matter. It doesn't matter how great we are at acting nice and perfect at church... what matters is how we act when we are dealing with our family, friends, and fellow man, especially those we don't have a natural affinity for (my nice way of saying people we really don't want to be around!)
Thanks for sharing your granny’s story and the perspective of getting ready to pass on.
Over the past 3 months as a caregiver, I have helped care for and assist the elderly. It is interesting to see the evolution of thought as they come to accept the inevitable proximity of death. Some are good people who hope that God will think they have done enough good. Others have a lot of regrets about the way they treated others, especially those they love. The "ease" of their passing seems to correlate with how much fear of the unknown and of the things left "undone" they have.
I have gained a greater appreciation for life and relationships. My perspective on how *I* want to be able to look back and view my life has changed dramatically over the past few months! I hope to continue to change, express gratitude and love, and serve -- so that when I am facing death, I won't have any major regrets.
My maternal grandmother was promised in her PB that she would live until she was satisfied with her life. I won't bore you with the details, but she lived to be 94 - and she should have been dead at least 2 years earlier. She said quite directly that she had some grandkids who needed to get their lives straightened out before she felt ready to die. They heard her say it; they changed their lives; she died shortly thereafter.
There is SO much we don't understand, but I think the power of our relationships is absolutely central to our progression. It's interesting to me that Joseph Smith spent FAR more energy talking about building a "community/kingdom" than he did about building a "church/religion".
Thanks for getting me thinking. I watched Hotel Rawanda last night. It's a startling reminder of what can happen when we don't love our neighbors as ourselves. We need to teach our children love and acceptance of people -- not of everything that each person does, but of people as our brothers and sisters. We need to model that love and acceptance. I heard a quote that has really stuck with me, it was said in relation to the Middle East, but has broader application: The killing will never stop, until they love their CHILDREN more than they hate their ENEMIES. We need to be careful to pass on a legacy of love and not of hate.
Post a Comment