Life and Death

     As a Christian I know that death is not the end. For a Christian there is no end, life is eternal. There is a passing over, from this existence to the next. For me there is no doubt that after our life on Earth we will still live on in a new body, exactly how that will be I'm not sure of. I trust God and know that He knows how it will be and that it will be good, that's enough for me. Actually I may like to know more but until my own passing I won't really "know".
     I do know that Jesus said that He has gone to prepare a place for me, John 14:1-3, and that He will return to receive me unto Himself. and that I will be in paradise with Him, Luke 23:43. I also know that I will have a new body, 1 Corinthians 15:51-55
     So, logically I have no issue with the process we call death, it's actually only a transition, right? But it is something that we try not to think about or for some to only consider with fear.
     At this point in my life with a loved one facing the transition, I am looking at the emotions that surround this time. Grief for the ones left behind, even when we know they will go to be with Jesus.
Maybe our lives are so intertwined that we are like the plants that when one is pulled up the others who have shared the root space feel the shaking and rending of losing the one they had been close to.
     Even as I try to understand my feelings I realize there is not always an explanation for our emotions. Even so, God created us as emotional beings. His word tells us there is "a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance", Ecclesiastes 3:4.
     I think this means that when one of our loved ones leaves our presence and moves into the presence of Jesus in Paradise that yes, we will grieve and we will cry, it doesn't mean we doubt that they are in a far better place, it means that we will miss their presence with us until we see them again.
     This is kind a self involved article trying to make sense of my sadness even when I am at the same time rejoicing. Thank you for your patience with me as I talked myself through all of this to reach an understanding that my tears are not an insult or distrust to God but part of the loving celebration of my mother's life.