tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4095822388315899381.post8687445867951298620..comments2024-03-28T11:09:46.338-07:00Comments on Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart: Would That It Were SoAndrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13230537202427640540noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4095822388315899381.post-28555455661935319122013-09-27T21:35:53.192-07:002013-09-27T21:35:53.192-07:00No words can express my sorrow at your loss...and ...No words can express my sorrow at your loss...and no words can describe my admiration for the way you approach it.<br /><br />You've summed up Christianity, the heart of Christianity, in these paragraphs.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13230537202427640540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4095822388315899381.post-81975708513381245262013-09-27T12:07:13.766-07:002013-09-27T12:07:13.766-07:00Eight months and seven days before Whitney Houston...Eight months and seven days before Whitney Houston's death, my cousin drowned in a similar way. I have lost many loved ones in my 6 decades on this earth, but none hurt me half as deep as the tragic loss of my not-quite 39-year-old cousin. She drowned in the Montezuma Hot Springs in northern New Mexico, in water that would not come up as high as her shoulders if she stood in the deepest part. A couple of hours before she died, she had sent a text message to our cell phone saying that she and a friend were on their way to the hot springs near Las Vegas, NM, to spend the day. She texted YAY! and made a smiley face, because she was so excited about their outing. <br /><br />I was writing a long loving email to her, full of plans for a future that will never be, when she drowned. Elaine was an RN on the infusion ward of UNM Hospital in Albuquerque. Most of her life was still ahead of her.... or so we thought.<br /><br />Now when I see Whitney's name mentioned, knowing that she drowned in a bathtub when she was also much too young, I think of my cousin Elaine.<br /><br />The Greatest Love of all is the Love that gave up His life to save His loved ones. I know that I would have given up my life to save my precious young cousin, if only I could have. Why is she gone, and I'm still here? It's been 2 years since we lost her, and sometimes I still want to scream.<br /><br />And yet, I am comforted by what I believe. I believe that Elaine is alive right now in heaven with our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, with her dad my very precious uncle, and with all those other dear loved ones who have gone before. We are all going to die, every last one of us, sooner or later, if Jesus doesn't come back first. We don't know when and we don't know how we will draw our last breath, we only know that the moment will eventually come for each of us. It could be years from now, it could be tomorrow, it could be five minutes from now.<br /><br />I grieved hard and long for Lainie. I still grieve. But today I try to remember the great gift God gave us the night before she died. Elaine called, and we talked on the phone for nearly an hour on the last night of her life. We said things that we had never said to each other before, things that I know we would have wanted to say if we had been aware that this was going to be our last conversation in this life.<br /><br />For the first time ever I told her how much I love her, during that last phone call. I said, "I love you four ways: 1. I love you because you are YOU. 2. I love you because you are my cousin. 3. I love you because your dad was my favorite uncle whom I dearly loved, and 4. I love you because your mother is my favorite beloved aunt."<br /><br />She counted along with me as I said that: 1, 2, 3, 4. We cried and we laughed and our souls touched during that last conversation in a way that we had never been able to touch before, with the 19 year age gap between us. Our hearts truly met... for the first time. And then, the next day, she was gone.<br /><br />For a long time I thought that was unbearably tragic, the fact that I lost her, right after we had JUST gotten past the barrier that had always seemed to exist between my cousin and me. But lately I have come to realize what a tremendous GIFT that was.<br /><br />And now I know how important it is to always tell the people we love how much they mean to us.... while we still can. You never know when the last goodbye.... is the last goodbye.<br /><br />"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." 1 John 4:7Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4095822388315899381.post-48243425710877061122013-09-23T12:58:33.191-07:002013-09-23T12:58:33.191-07:00Thanks, Nancy! I'm glad you're here.
I ma...Thanks, Nancy! I'm glad you're here.<br /><br />I made it more readable...I think. Haven't slept since Thursday AM, so I did a quick fix...Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13230537202427640540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4095822388315899381.post-37705229730732102932013-09-23T09:55:15.168-07:002013-09-23T09:55:15.168-07:00Andrew, I'm so glad to have discovered your bl...Andrew, I'm so glad to have discovered your blog. That's all I can say. But I had a little trouble reading this one. The letters were dark and the background is the deep red, except where there were white highlights.Totally worth the effort though.<br />Best, NKNancy Kimballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10235904632405726930noreply@blogger.com