Monday, September 5, 2011

How To Deal With Death

By Burton Rager


No one finds it straightforward to keep on after the death of a mate, sister, brother, parent, partner or child. Each brings its own hurt and discomfort and difficulty in discovering how to deal with death. The strength of the loss will alter tremendously. My emotions after the loss of a best buddy were very different from the loss of my folks and those losses were significantly different than the death of my better half.

I was with my number one friend just a couple of hours before he died. I can recollect him pulling at the sheets and being really agitated. I sat beside him and held him for a considerable time while trying to provide comfort to my close friend and companionship to his spouse. It was troublesome for her to witness her man fighting and to understand the end was near.

Sitting and staying with my mom in the hospice during her last five days and nights was quite a different experience. I recall taking a look at her many times times to work out if she was still breathing. She was completely ready to go home to heaven; and that helped each of us who loved her. Nonetheless, watching your ma struggle to breathe during her last hours is never simple.

My pop, a fabulous 86 year old man who had lived a full life, died 6 years after with lung complications. He was also quite ready to go to Heaven. He had missed my mom extraordinarily over those last 6 years. I wished I had known then what I know today. We furnished him a good life but I failed to realize the hurt he was going thru. The night he died, I was alone with him for the last four hours of his life. I held him in my arms during those last hours, just he and I. I was able to say to him what an awesome pop he'd been and how much I loved him. What a privilege to get to hold him and to hear the death rattle. It became so sweet because I knew where he was headed, to see his Jesus and to see the old lady.

I grew through these experiences yet, they did not prepare me for the largest loss of my life. My prior spouse of TWENTY-SEVEN years was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Ten weeks later she also went home, just like my pal, my mum and my father. This experience, unlike the others, rocked me to my core. It's a story all its own. Some moments I could grin, but at times the grief was all consuming. I'd feel encircled in a box; respiring, just surviving was all I could manage. It was as if I could only take one step at a time. It was in this experience that God started to mold, form, and change me beyond anything I might have imagined. He was preparing me to accomplish His work thru my life.

I encourage you to use our complimentary gift, "God's Answer?" It will demonstrate to you a power to not only live life, but also a power to change your life, beyond your wildest imagination.




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