OUR SHRINKING WORLD

 I have a sweet friend who recently responded to my post on Love for Family via Facebook.  For those of you who are not on Facebook here is her response ~

"With the onset of COVID, it has been a season of loss for me,  especially the last six months of 2023!  At my age, 81, I guess it's the norm.  To say I miss them all, is an understatement!  Thankful for a loving, caring Lord Jesus who comforts those of us who are mourning.  How fortunate I have been to have close and lasting friendships!  So grateful for my church family of friends-Dubach and Ruston.  I am so thankful for ALL my sweet friends, just floundering a bit."

I can literally feel her pain and grief as I record her response for you.  As we age, our worlds begin to shrink.  I clearly remember the sadness of my late father in law when he told me he had outlived all of his peers.  We all want to live long productive lives and he did.  BUT it comes with a cost as your world begins to shrink with the loss of mobility and more profoundly the loss of friends and family as they leave this world behind.  NOW--we Believers know this is not the end for us---the best is yet to come, BUT we also grieve the loss of the physical presence of those we love when they pass on.  I well remember the shock of realizing I was now the senior matriarch of the James family with the passing of Momma.  Slowly but surely our family line begins to lose a generation and we are left at the helm as the senior generation.  My brothers and I have a running joke about who will go first.  It is all jibes and laughs until I actually think about that occurrence.  I hope I go first---I do not want to face the alternative.

What do we do with the grief that comes with our shrinking world?  How do we face tomorrow when we are left behind?  Thinking this over I have come to the following conclusions ~

Thank God for giving us memories which can comfort us with waves of gentle reminiscing of those we loved so deeply.

Pause and reflect on what the ones gone before would expect from us who are left.  They would want us to live to the fullest of our ability.  They would want only the best for us.

As the reader's comments states, be thankful for God's gift of sweet friends and I will add family.  What a lonely bleak world this would be without our loved ones.  Remember the gift of their presence, and do not become mired in the grief.  Instead celebrate the memory of them and all that entails and be grateful.

It is a given that the longer you live, the more your world will shrink.  It is a fact of life. Perhaps with a shrinking world, we will have more time to concentrate on those who are still by our side.  Those who are left have a responsibility to remember and remind themselves of the gift of the love of those who have gone on.  As long as we remember--they are not forgotten.

"And I am certain that God,

who began the good work within you,

will continue His work 

until it is finally finished

on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

Philippians 1:6