There is a song that used to be sung in churches, when I was growing up. From what I can find, a man named Levoy Dewey wrote it. The lyrics of verse two, talk about losing a loved one and the chorus is all about how Heaven sounds sweeter all the time.
Today my mother would have been 67 years old. She left us at a very young 54. She is and will always be missed. She was so vibrant and quick witted. She had true compassion about her fellow man in need and among other of her many great traits, she loved to give! But the most important thing about her is she loved Jesus with her whole heart! And no she wasn’t perfect, but her love for Jesus and people (the great commandment) shined through every fiber of her being!
One of her very good nurse friends was at her bedside when she was dying. She said to me, “Amanda, you are going to have to tell her that it is ok to go or there is no telling how long she will hang on. She will hang on for you.”
How do you tell the person that you love the most in the world that it is ok to go? Well the way I did it was this…… I leaned down into her ear, my simple way of having one last private moment with just she and I…. I said, “Momma, it is ok. You can let go and be free. We will be fine, I promise. Please tell Jesus I said THANK YOU, for picking you to be my mother!” Then I softly kissed her cheek. She passed away in less than an hour after that.
If you have never lost a loved one to the grave, I could pray that you never will. But the truth of the matter is, no one will live forever on this earth and at some point in time, you will experience loss and it will hurt. You may even feel crushed, like you’re losing your own breath. However, life always goes on. We somehow tap into strength we may not even know was there.
They say, time has a way of healing. I say that isn’t true, that time simply has a way of going on. The memories will never leave, but time will fade the painful things. But those sweet memories of love, of longing, you will find that Heaven will sound sweeter with each passing one.