Preparing For The Final Curtain

Preparing For the Final Curtain

Eileen Renders

   Leaving behind our children, and maybe our spouse as well requires much thought and planning. Then there is the readiness and acceptance of moving into the next realm. While these are not pleasant thoughts or plans for many of us, they are necessary.

   Preparation might have begun within us through our Christian upbringing, our Catholic teachers, preparation for, and receiving of the Sacraments, and following God’s Ten Commandments.

   Yet throughout our lives, we sin because we are human and as human beings we are imperfect. Therefore, we need to recognize that we must grow in our faith and understanding of what it is that God wants from us. This is accomplished through prayer, the sacraments, and a sincere desire to know God. How can we know God? How can we build a relationship with Him?

   As a young teen, I certainly did not know how to nurture a relationship with Jesus. I felt perhaps that would be impossible as none of us are worthy to claim a close relationship with God. Of course that is true, however, God loves us and created us, and if we want to be close to Him, pray to Him, and love Him, He will provide the tools to us through His grace.

   In life when we live life doing the best we can do, the results are often in God’s hands. When we remain on the right path as we journey toward the end of our earthly lives, it is within all of us to wonder how God views our choices and decisions we have made in our lives, as this is associated with how we may be judged. 

   Are we on the right path today? Did we strive, and spend quality time with God each, and every day? Did we talk to Him, affirm our deepest love for Him, and ask for His daily guidance to lead us, guide us, and correct us? Do we place our creator above all other beings?

   We can be assured that if we submit ourselves to God’s will, we are on the right path toward heaven.