Prevailing Thoughts on Life after Death

Sitting in the realm of rolling plains at the final resting place for our beloved, you can view the many American flags waving as gentle breezes blow the colors aloft.  Here there are no advocates for rancor, no promoters of disruption, and no-one to chase away pleasant thoughts of peacefulness.

What comes to mind is the simplicity that once was a person whom we knew and loved now lies lifeless, yet fully enveloped within our thoughts and memories.  Some have said they could not enter a cemetery without feeling estranged from those who reside there.  To them, this is the last place to visit and feel relaxed or even sentimental.  I suppose you could say they’ve left the memories that now are buried with their loved ones.

A passing thought from my recent article “Cremation or In-ground Burial” “We can be be thankful that many persons still visit their loved ones at cemeteries and perhaps even pray for their souls.”

If you sit long enough and continue making visits, there will be a sense of an eternal glimpse of what we all may look forward to experiencing once our souls exit the body.  Death should never become a rampart that can not be circumvented.  Death for each of us is really just stepping across a threshold into Life.  

As we sit within the prominence of these places of eternal rest there can be the notice of complete serenity; a feeling of life existing and almost seeing souls rising and greeting those of us who are carrying an olive branch of peace which is all they now have.  

Christianity and Judaism teach that there is a resurrection.  But, too often many feel that the bodies are discarded without any semblance of respect.  Think of the caterpillar.  When it ceases to exist, in our eyes, a metamorphosis occurs and it resurrects in the form of a beautiful butterfly.  Did we for even a moment believe the caterpillar was doomed as death seemed to take over its life?  

The same respect we must give to the lifeless bodies of our loved ones who now sleep in the earth and await the call to rise as well.  This is the reason for respect and care for even a plot of earth that will release each of us when the Angel blows the trumpet and we are called to meet God.  This event is the Life after Death!

Ralph B. Hathaway, Summer 2020