This is one of the thoughts shared during the last week that has stuck with me. Mike's Uncle Larry spoke Thursday night at Kristi's vigil, and spoke directly to Mike, Katie, and Mr. McCarthy when he spoke those words: "do you really want her back here on earth?" To give a little background, Mike's Uncle Larry is an incredible man. He lost his mother when he was a teenager, two of his four children (one as an infant/toddler, another when she was in high school), a sister six years ago, and a niece one week ago. One would seriously wonder how he and his wife are able to face the world each day, but they do, and they do it with a sense of peace, humility, grace, and courage that the rest of us could only hope to have one day in our lives.
Larry's words during the vigil Thursday night were some of the most calming and reassuring words I have ever heard about death. He said after the death of one of his children he was talking to Father Bennie (might be Brother Bennie...I do not remember which he said, but we'll just call him Father for the story) and remembering that all he wanted in the world was for his child to be back here on earth, some how, some way; after someone dies the one thing you want most is to have them back, but it is the one thing you will never get. Uncle Larry said that Father Bennie's response to this was "do you really want her back? do you really want to take her from the eternal kingdom in which she now resides, from the eternal happiness she will now have?"
I am not doing a good job of relaying the message spoken that night, I wish I could find better words to describe it, and to help everyone understand, but this is the best I can do right now. I guess the idea is that when someone has been ill and suffering, people sometimes find comfort in the fact that that person is no longer suffering, and that all their pain is gone when they die. How, then, do you find comfort when someone was pain-free and plenty happy here on earth, and they die as suddenly and senselessly as Kristi did? You find comfort in the fact that life in heaven is still better than life on earth is for any child of God.
Larry's words during the vigil Thursday night were some of the most calming and reassuring words I have ever heard about death. He said after the death of one of his children he was talking to Father Bennie (might be Brother Bennie...I do not remember which he said, but we'll just call him Father for the story) and remembering that all he wanted in the world was for his child to be back here on earth, some how, some way; after someone dies the one thing you want most is to have them back, but it is the one thing you will never get. Uncle Larry said that Father Bennie's response to this was "do you really want her back? do you really want to take her from the eternal kingdom in which she now resides, from the eternal happiness she will now have?"
I am not doing a good job of relaying the message spoken that night, I wish I could find better words to describe it, and to help everyone understand, but this is the best I can do right now. I guess the idea is that when someone has been ill and suffering, people sometimes find comfort in the fact that that person is no longer suffering, and that all their pain is gone when they die. How, then, do you find comfort when someone was pain-free and plenty happy here on earth, and they die as suddenly and senselessly as Kristi did? You find comfort in the fact that life in heaven is still better than life on earth is for any child of God.
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Ashley Hurlburt