There are so many among the everyday living who are wracked with grief and bewilderment after the loss of their loved ones. I, myself, have lost so many allies here below in just over ten years; my Father, three Aunts, two uncles, my maternal Grandparents, and the love of my life who was only 33 years old, whom I laid to rest on a snow covered and bitter cold January morning after a two year war with cancer. It sometimes seems that I have spent more time in mortuaries than anywhere else. 

     I had become an expert in push meds, IVs, medical terminology, doctor visits, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, home hospice care, and running a household around all this chaos, that I had become someone that I didn't even know anymore. After all was said and done, I found myself drifting aimlessly for months. I was a shadow clothed in grief. I couldn't even cry. One night before taking the usual sleeping medications that I so desperately needed, and still amidst the sorrow and pain of all this loss, I turned to the Creator and asked Him to please reveal to me some wisdom of a little part of His universe that I may understand this design of life, and to help to relieve the burden of the grief that had immobilized me for months. I said, "Lord, I don't even know who or what I am anymore. I can't exist in this state anymore. Please take me out of this life, or help me to understand."

     In His wondrous and loving way, He spoke to my heart in a dream that night and said to me,"Then I will make you anew. In all things, in life and in death, I am your Lord, and I am Eternal. Know you this. Those who are removed from you continue, and are now infinite in their existence. They know, and remember all things below, and the love that they held in the flesh is still with them. Know you that all is well with them, and that they wait." The peace that filled my world the next morning at dawn was overwhelming. I pondered those words for weeks. I once was vain enough to think that I was surely due an instantaneous healing and restoration from the human suffering that I had come through at the early age of forty years. Now, I have come to know that the Lord who walks with us, gradually restores our lives with a greater wisdom, and then totally surpasses everything anticipated by planting in those who have lost and yet survive, the greatest desire to love and to reach out with reassurance to others who are now grieving. 

     Now, there is a refinement and a tuning to my senses after all of this transpired. I'm sure that those who have walked this same valley is very well aware of it. There is a greater appreciation to each day that dawns, a gratefulness for health, and a gentleness and deeper response to those around us who are infirm, grieving, ill, or in the final days of dying. The everyday chores of daily life have now become a little more smooth, and the stress that was once so great, is now just a stone to step over. To all those who have lost a dear loved one, may I speak from the heart and say to you, look deeper passed the grief, the loss, and the emptiness that you are now experiencing. Stand still in this moment and listen to your heart. The One who Sees and Knows all Things is always standing beside you. You are His child, and He knows your pain. You are not alone in the darkest of nights, but you are ALWAYS in the Presence of the Most High. In this oneness of self with the Maker of All Things there is an overwhelming peace. He loves you more than the human mind can possibly comprehend. Grow calm in the Greatness of the One who holds all things in the palm of His hand. He will renew your strength, your mind, and your body. Rejoice each day that dawns that you are one day closer to the greatest of all homecomings. You will once again see all those who are gathered on another and an everlasting shore. And there will never again be heard through all this Kingdom, the spoken words, "Good-bye." May God bless you and keep you in His tenderness.
 
Love, Peace, Joy, and Hope 

Larry Mason