My B-day Thoughts - The World Beyond

This is perhaps the longest item published on this blog, but it took me just a few minutes to write this up because it has been in my thoughts for the past week.

When I was younger, during periods when I am ill my sister, Renz, will come into the room and start singing those religious songs that were frequently heard at funerals. I will scream and beg her to stop. Then it was because I was so scared of dying, simply because I did not know why I was living.
When you understand why you are living, the purpose for which you were born in the first place, you regard death as the other side of life. While you work and toil to ensure you fulfil your life’s purpose, you await the time when you will be called on to your reward, at the other side of life – death.
Paul lived all our lives… for the sinners, he was the worse of them all; for the believers, he was the best in his time; for the unmarried, he was the most preserved and faithful of them; for those who like exploring the world, he sailed the seas endlessly. So what do you have to hold against him? When this guy was nearing the end of his life, and looking forward to the life beyond – death, he said
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7; NIV).
This is an example for us. The Bible encourages us to "run with patience (endurance, persistence) the race set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith ... For consider Him that endured ... lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." (Heb 12:1-3). Need I say more? Ask your local church pastor.

Now, with my purpose of living so clear in my mind, and as I enter another year in my life, I have been pondering what my family, friends, and loved ones will say of me when I am gone to the world a yonder – to be with my Eternal Father. I have thought of many lines: “she lived her life gracefully…”; “she brought smiles to the faces of so many…” etc., and my thoughts have neigh turned negative at any point. I am not allowed to write my own eulogy, so l will leave that to the rest living on earth when I transcend the evil of this world.
I have however been inspired by some of the greatest eulogies of our time, and wondered if mine will come any close to them. The last two paragraphs of Margaret Thatcher’s eulogy to Ronald Reagan (former US President) reads
“For the final years of his life, Ronnie's mind was clouded by illness. That cloud has now lifted. He is himself again - more himself than at any time on this earth. For we may be sure that the Big Fella Upstairs never forgets those who remember Him. And as the last journey of this faithful pilgrim took him beyond the sunset, and as heaven's morning broke, I like to think - in the words of Bunyan - that `all the trumpets sounded on the other side'.

We here still move in twilight. But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. We have his example. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God's children.”

Mahatma Gandhi was a great fighter, fighting for the freedom of all peoples. When he passed on, Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s first PM) said the following:
“Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that. Nevertheless, we will not see him again as we have seen him for these many years. We will not run to him for advice and seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not to me only, but to millions and millions in this country, and it is a little difficult to soften the blow by any other advice that I or anyone else can give you.
The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later that light will still be seen in this country, and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts. For that light represented the living truth ... the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom.
All this has happened when there was so much more for him to do. We could never think that he was unnecessary or that he had done his task. But now, particularly, when we are faced with so many difficulties, his not being with us is a blow most terrible to bear”.

I am not trying to compare myself to Reagan or the great Gandhi, but hey I know in my little space, I can make a huge impact such that when I am gone, people will think the light is gone, and know that the Big Fella upstairs has not forgotten me.
To conclude, in the 19th Century, one of the greatest poets who ever lived was Emily Dickenson (1830 – 1886). She wrote countless poems about death and was thought of as someone who adored death. One of those poems titled 'IF I SHOULD DIE' reads:
If I should die,

And you should live,

And time should gurgle on,

And morn should beam,

And noon should burn,

As it has usual done;

If birds should build as early,

And bees as bustling go,

--One might depart at option

From enterprise below!

T'is sweet to know that stocks will stand

When we with daisies lie,

That commerce will continue,

And trades as briskly fly.

It makes the parting tranquil

And keeps the soul serene,

That gentlemen so sprightly

Conduct the pleasing scene!


Love and Peace. Yours Truly, moi!