August 22, 2016 (Monday)
“Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone,” is a song written in 1930 by Sam H. Stept, Sidney Clare and Bee Palmer.
Our daughter, Debbie, said the opposite. When she was terminally ill, she asked her mother and me to talk about her after she was gone. I think, therefore, she would have liked knowing that I am talking about her today in this blog. Today would have been her birthday, and she would have been 57 years of age–20 years older than when we last saw her.
Five years after she went to be with the Lord, her mother followed her.
I learned the song, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” when I was a preschooler, but its words have special meaning to me now, prompting me to thank the Lord for all my loved ones, including those who have gone to be with Him. At my age, it is normal that many in the family have passed–grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, as well as wife and daughter, and hosts of friends. I miss them all.
The central belief of our faith is in the death-burial-resurrection of Jesus Christ. Belief in the resurrection is essential for salvation (Romans 10:9-10). The resurrection of Jesus not only is the central fact of our faith, it is the basis of our hope. We believe that Christ conquered death in our behalf, so that it no longer has power over us. Death is not the end for the child of God. When death comes to us, we find ourselves absent from the body but present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
The reality is that we are now separated from some of our loved ones. But not forever. We will meet again. Over there.
I’ll meet you in the morning by the bright riverside
When all sorrow has drifted away
I’ll be standing at the portals when the gates open wide
At the close of life’s long dreary day.
I’ll meet you in the morning with a how do you do
And we’ll sit down by the river
And with rapture old acquaintance renew
You’ll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning
In the city that’s built four square.
I will meet you in the morning at the end of the way
On the streets of that city of gold
Where we all can be together and be happy always
While the years and the ages shall roll.
I’ll meet you in the morning with a how do you do
And we’ll sit down by the river
And with rapture old acquaintance renew
You’ll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning
In the city that’s built four square.