CELEBRATING LIFE AFTER DEATH

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My friend Karen bid farewell to her husband this weekend and I know the passing of his life from here to eternity has been painful.

She celebrated anyway, because that’s what loving someone is really all about; celebrating their life and their love and their unique imprint on our world…even when they are no longer here.

Great loves always leave an indelible imprint that never fades. It is as though an ethereal spirit remains to remind us of the value of that person and their place in our life.

We feel them in the raw and rigorous process of grief that only time can carry away. We embrace them in the joy that, for now, is secondary to the loss that lingers longer than we would like. We hold them in our hurting hearts because it is so true, “parting is such sweet sorrow.”

In a special ceremony Karen celebrated Mel in one last dance of love that honors the gift of their marriage, the joy of their lives together and the hope that they brought to so many by their bold choice to live a life of love, “until death do we part.”

For the living, death often destroys us because when we define life only as a tangible physical reality then we close the door to the unlimited potential of our supernatural forever. Karen’s celebration of life after death reinforces that living and dying co-exist in a natural unfolding of our eternal destiny.

Karen released the pain of Mel’s passing to the resurrection of beautiful memories; soulful laughter, humble forgiveness and heartfelt moments of truth. And though she probably didn’t know it, she also honored her husband and her friends with renewed hope….For out of the darkness of Mel’s death came an illuminating light of love and an inspiring peace that can never be put to rest.

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