In the End

My heart is full today. So many emotions as I look at the flowers hanging on the door. The note beside the flowers said it all…closed to celebrate the life of one of our staff members.

Southeast Christian Church, the place I serve and love, bid farewell to a long-time member who fought a hard fight against cancer.

I’m reminded of my friend, Jan, today as she was preparing to leave. So many similarities. So little time. So loved by many. She fought cancer as well, with a shorter battle in the end. And it’s that phrase, in the end, that gives me pause.

This brave and beautiful woman fought hard to the end. Was it just last week? Her beloved husband and daughters did too, as did so many people…family, friends and fellow-believers.

The church bookstore where she worked, closed their doors today to commemorate and celebrate this woman’s life. Because that’s what happens in the end.

Do we celebrate because we know it’s the end of her pain? Or do we celebrate because we know the end isn’t really the end at all?

We celebrate lives well-lived because we know we’ll see our loved ones again. If we believe…in the end.

The flowers hanging on the bookstore door, they must have been a favorite of hers because I saw a small vase of the very same flower sitting in another area of our huge church building.

There was a theme in our church today, as we said “Goodbye”. There is a theme in life as well…in the end.

I never met this woman face-to-face, but I feel like I know her. I listened to friends tell stories of her life today. As they talked you could feel the love and sense that this woman was pretty special indeed.

Her fight is over and she has entered into the rest and joy of the Lord. Her family and friends are left to do life without her, knowing that one day soon, they will see her again.

Because in the end, we all have an end.