I am having one of those days where I am having a coincidence occur and it feels like God is trying to tell me something.
Yesterday, I was getting ready to go to my conference and thinking about storytelling. I thought about how stories of old, different myths and legends, often express our fears, desires, and nature even in present day. Then, I remember that there’s a common story about death. It usually goes like this: When the world was first created, there wasn’t death every human, bird, and animal lived forever. Somehow, the human beings do something or make some kind of mistake that can’t be changed and then death comes about. Ever since then when death comes, it is a permanent state; death is forever. No one is immortal.
The story suggest that humans don’t have any control over life or death, but that they do bear responsibility in the fact that death is forever. I asked my husband yesterday about it and pondered what this story expressed about human nature. We really weren’t sure except that it probably had something to do with helping people with learning how to deal with grief.
Then, today I start to watch a docuseries that deals with near death experiences, paranormal phenomena, mediums, and after death communication. As I listened to it, everything started to fall into place. There are stories about humans causing death to be forever, but there are also lots of stories about people dealing with unbearable grief and trying, mostly unsuccessfully to bring their loved ones back from the afterlife.
When I see this docuseries about people trying to communicate with their lost loved ones, I don’t know if it is real or not. If it isn’t real, then I feel bad that some con person is taking advantage of them in their grief. However, if it is real, then I wonder if it is a sin of pride and being maybe a little selfish. After all, for me, if my loved one has passed on to the afterlife, then I would want them to be at peace. Why would I want to bother them and make them feel like there’s unfinished business here on Earth? I would hope that they would freely pass on to the other side letting go and finding peace in God’s loving embrace.
Even more so, when people communicate with “the other side”, how do they know they are communicating with their loved ones? I see, feel and experience energy all the time, but I’m really not sure about interacting with any of it. Here’s where the sin of pride part comes in. I have chosen to make God the only power important in my life. He is my guiding light and only Him. I will not hold anything above Him. People who are communicating with the other side are opening up themselves to trusting and giving some power to whatever they are communicating with. Once someone gives up a little trust and power to something, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Who are we to be so prideful to believe that we have the right to reach beyond death?
Maybe that’s what all the stories mean. We are the ones who caused the finality of death. Even if there is an afterlife, these stories warn us that we shouldn’t try to change that. We cannot bring the dead back to life. We cannot change the finality of death. No one can be made immortal on Earth. Grief must respect the boundaries of death or else face dire consequences.
It is so coincidental that I asked that question about the stories about death yesterday and then I started to watch a docuseries today. Although the series doesn’t outright answer my question, it is showing me the answer.
Simply put, remain true to the greatest commandments. Of course love your neighbor as you would yourself, but in dealing with grief remember to love God above all others as the one true power in your life.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
