Thursday, July 1, 2010

Uplifted By A Funeral

This has been a crazy week for us. Mindi has spent these last few days with Tristyn down at a volleyball tournament in Phoenix. I have helped with her boys a little bit and thank heavens for Spencer and Annie for taking Troy to two movies. I injured my back again on Mon. so I have basically stayed inside my house with ice on my hip and back. I got in the pool with Jenn and her girls last night and my aches and pains have subsided a little bit. I'm thankful for any relief no matter how small.
As I talked about in an earlier post we had a friend of the family pass away on Sun. morning. He has been in poor health for a long time with a bad heart and kidney disease but he gave a good fight until the end. I attended his funeral this morning. My sister and her husband came and picked me up and we drove to Scottsdale to the church I went to growing up. I am not a big fan of funerals, in fact as we were driving there I could feel my anxiety starting to kick in. There is something really spiritual and sacred about death that makes me very uneasy. The church looked beautiful with all the flowers friends had sent. My Mom was there to greet us and we sat on the back row (my trademark). Anyway, it was a really nice funeral. I always feel uplifted.
His son-in-law gave his life story and gave three different qualities about him. They were, (1) Be positive, anytime he was asked how he was doing he would say,"Superb". (2) Don't sweat the small stuff, and everything is "small stuff." Then (3) Enjoy life, slow down and enjoy the moment. Look around and see all of God's creations and just enjoy being alive. My Dad was asked to give another talk. He always does so well. He is eight-one years old so he has done his share of speaking at funerals. He talked about tesimony. He gave a quote "Testimony is when your spirit whispers to my spirit and I beleive." Then he talked about how we are asked to endure to the end. But when you think about it there is No end.
It is interesting that as I looked around at all the people in the church it came to me that everyone there has been born and each one of us will suffer death and return home. It depends on us and the life we live that will determine what happens to us after that. I thought of Kamber who only lived two years, our friend was seventy-seven. The only difference is the time they will spend in heaven.

3 comments:

Debbie said...

Who's funeral was this? I have not heard. I am out of the loop.

Alishia said...

It was fun to see you today, even if the visit was short and my crazy kiddos did most of the entertaining.

I love reading your blog! It always takes me back to summer days at your house. I spent a lot of time over there, helping with rabbits, chasing around puppies, getting into the otter pops when we weren't supposed to. Oh, the memories. At times, you were like my 2nd mother. Thank you for that!! And for getting me around some girls. I needed that and love your girls still to this day!!

Debbie said...

Yes, I knew him. Lynn Haltigan was my age. I guess they still live in the neighborhood. Kay Moody aided for her long ago. Sounds like he was in pain and is now released.

Eric leaves in 4 weeks. Haven't gotten him ready to go yet. Guess I better get a move on. I just like to be lazy in the summer. Been spending a lot time out in the pool with grandkids. No time for shopping.

Thanks for letting me know about Charles.