God and death...

Afternoons when I'm done with work I'm a volunteer worker at a home as an activities coordinator. It's a combination hospital recovery, convalescent nursing care, and hospice facility of about 120 patients, half of them being long term residents. My mom is 96 and has dementia and is there, so I see her almost every day.

I also see death... lots of death, up close and personal, and it has been an amazing real world personal experience, so these are some of my observations of the last two years I've been there.

The place is like a train station where travelers pass the time waiting for their train to take them home.

Death is merciful. I get to personally interact with people right up to the time they die and everyone who I've seen die is better off now than they were when they were alive.

The long term residents will live the rest of their lives and never leave the facility, but they dont feel confined as their life shrinks to the available size of their world. We laugh and joke around and have fun just like everyone else does, and maybe even more so than others.

One of the running jokes is "drop offs". When we see a full gurney arrive, we call it a drop off because the hospital is dropping someone off...

...and when we see a full gurney leave we also call it a drop off because someone just dropped off.

Good friendships form easily with the silent realization that we are all at the same train station waiting for the same train.

This place is overflowing with kindness goodness and love.

And this was a real stunner... are no evil people here. I see what people are at the end of their life, and they are all good people.

There is no squabbling over religious doctrines here. Nobody is damning anyone else, because there is simply no time for that childish nonsense.

The closest thing to dotrinal differences is when the Seventh Adventists come for service, and the Jews roll their eyes as they roll their wheel chairs out of the room. But even that's good natured and done as a joke.

Everyone I've interacted with here so far believes in God and that's it. This isn't fake faith or religious posing. It's the real stuff folks have when they are jammed right up close to the end of their life.

So these are just a few of my own personal experiences and observations of death. My take away from all of this is that God is MORE merciful than anyone could EVER possibly imagine.

Would any of you like to offer your own observations and experiences of God and death?

Greg

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God and death...