Our neighbor died last night....

It was one of those evenings.  Sitting around playing cards and the door bell rings.  Next door neighbor, Madge has a horrific look on her face as she speaks to people on her cell phone while looking straight at me.  She is calling the ambulance.  Ken and Matt rush next door to see if Bill can be moved but due to the limited space of the bathroom, they fear to move him in any way.  Ambulance arrives shortly thereafter.  Janice from one of the suites downstairs takes Madge to the hospital to be with her husband who has been pronounced DOA.  A few long hours later Janice rings our doorbell to chat and let us know that Bill had died and that Madge is still at hospital with one of her sons.  The granddaughter will stay overnight with Madge and arrive back to an apartment that will never again see her dear man, nor will they share their bed together as they had for decades.  She begins her life of loneliness, aloneness and quietness....in the blink of an eye.  They had shared the day together....a whole lifetime together....and now one is gone.  One son lives here and he will be Madge's God-send.  He will help her and care for her and be with her as will her grandchildren.  But her dear Bill will no longer be a part of her life...her day...her breathing space.

Life is like that, isn't it.  We rush about like mad people, wishing for this, wanting that, making deals, and appointments and wondering where the next excitement will come from.  We plan for weddings and vacations and anniversaries and newly arrived babies....but very few of us get to plan for our funeral.  It's like we are oblivious to the obvious.  As the very cynical saying goes "we live....we die...and in the middle of those two, we rush around like mad fools".  I know I've said this before, but life really is ALL about relationships and how we deal with others.  It isn't about jobs or children or money or clothes or houses or cabins at the lake....although all of these things are wonderful.  It IS about our relationships within the context of all of these things...how we speak to others, how we help them, our attitudes towards them...our relationship with them. 

I found myself lying awake for a long while last night, praying for Madge and her family, thinking and praying about the coming days and asking God to be present in that family.  Tomorrow we shall cook a turkey and make a supper to take over.  They will watch us to see if our RELIGION co-insides with our love for them.

May God allow it to be so.