When Your World Stops

 We lost one of my nieces this weekend. I'm not sad for her because she got saved about a year ago. I'm sad for all of us she left behind. I'm sad for her twin brother. I teased her once by calling them "wombmates". 

What is so hard to deal with when Death takes someone you love is that the world goes on - with or without you. The morning that I was told my niece had passed, I was struggling to understand why UPS was still running packages and people were walking down the street, talking and enjoying their lives. 

I got so irritated every time an email notification chimed or when I could hear my neighbors going down the halls talking and laughing and living life like my niece no longer can.

I couldn't sleep so I stayed up doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen and doing anything to keep from thinking about my niece not being here. Every now and then, when I could hear the sounds of life happening, I wanted to yell for everyone to just stop.

But the world doesn't stop for you to mourn. When a rich person, homeless or hopeless person or famous person, or a royal person dies, the world spins on and on and on.  Death is death and there are no red carpets on the way out of here. 

All we have is the remembrance of love given and accepted. We have photographs and videos and memories. But that person is gone. They aren't going to be worried anymore about laundry,  mail or work, or loneliness. All the things they owned won't matter. All the shoulda, woulda, and coulda things won't matter. Nothing matters but the love they got and gave while they were here.

One day soon - but not for a while - I will wake up and not feel like I do today. One day, my niece's twin will be able to think of her without feeling like he's been orphaned. One day, our family will get together and share our stories and memories of my niece. One day we will cry because we miss her but we will feel so blessed that we had her.

This day, niece, you are in Paradise with the Lord.

Peace

--Free