A sailing ship

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. — 2 Corinthians 5:8

Dorothy, an elderly woman, was near death. She loved the Lord and longed to be with Him. The nurse told her family that Dorothy would probably hold on until she could see her daughter, who was on her way to say goodbye. The nurse said, “It’s as if Dorothy has one foot here and the other in heaven. She wants to take that last step soon.”

That reminds me of the following beautiful description of dying by Henry van Dyke:

“I am standing at the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud, just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other… And just at the moment when someone at my side says: ‘There, she is gone!’ there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: ‘Here she comes!’ and that is dying.”

Even more comforting for the loved ones of a believer who dies are the words of the apostle Paul: “If our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). We can rejoice in our sorrow knowing our departed loved ones are now present with the Lord (v.8). — Anne Cetas

The death of people whom we love

Brings sorrow and deep pain;

But if our loved ones know the Lord,

Our loss becomes their gain. — Sper

READ: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Because Christ lives, death is not tragedy but triumph.

The Bible in one year:

• 1 Samuel 7-9

• Proverbs 9:1-9