Within the last few weeks, two people with whom I was acquainted have passed away. I knew neither of them intimately—or even at all. Our interactions were rare, our paths crossing only a few times. With their passing, the moments we shared suddenly possessed more depth.
A smile, the flow of his wrist as he writes, the movement of his hand as he pours a drink, the twinkle of his eye as he laughs—those moments are lost, never again be shared.
When I was a teenager, I loved the movie American Beauty. The disgusted daughter, the broken wife, the struggling father, the dark son, the promiscuous cheerleader—I fell in love with their pain, identifying with each character’s despair. Many years later, watching this movie again, I connected to it differently. Instead of pain, I saw peace.
I found myself moved as Kevin Spacey, who plays the main character Lester Burnham, passed away. In his death, there was so much beauty. That may sound cryptic to the world, but as a Christian I saw it in a much different light.
It was two months ago when I listened to Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Texas, speak on Ecclesiastes 7:1.
A good name is better than precious ointment,
And the day of death than the day of birth.
In America, it is inherently understood that birth is beautiful. It represents a hope linked to potential, and the promise of potential is the very basis of our culture. So when Chandler revealed the beauty in death, I was initially surprised because to Americans, death is the end.
“But death, death for the believer is about fulfillment. It's like, in that moment, I've got all that Christ had for me, like all that He wanted me to know, all that He wanted me to experience, all that He wanted me to feel and know and do, that I am full, that I've got all that He wanted me to drink. And so, He pulls me out.”
I welcomed that thought into my heart. It is radical to think of death as the beginning. Chandler says it is more glorious to focus on the beauty of a life lived instead of the sadness in losing it. In American Beauty, as Lester’s monologue closes the movie, he reflects on the beautiful moments that captivated his heart—the moments that were the very essence of his life.
Our life here is a temporary setting. Let us be grateful for the moments we share with those we love. Let us be grateful for the small joys in this life. Let us be soothed in knowing that once this beauty comes to end that our hearts are collected and reunited with the One Who is more beautiful than our minds can fathom.
Let our hearts be soothed when loved ones pass, and grateful in our knowledge that death is the beginning.
“I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst, and then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure, but don’t worry. You will someday.” Lester Burnham, American Beauty
“Earth is only a temporary residence…Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is Heaven.” Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life
“If you stole my computer from me, we would hunt you down, but before that, if you clicked on Microsoft Word and you scrolled through my documents, you would find one in there called ‘Don't Cry for Me.’ And that document exists just in case I die. And what that is, is any time I have that moment, anytime there's that moment that just resonates with my soul, I go put a one sentence blurb in that document. It's about three and a half pages long now…and the very last line of this document always reads the same, ‘Don't cry for me, I'm home.’” Matt Chandler, The Village Church
As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Jamie’s Don’t Cry for Me List
No comments:
Post a Comment