I don’t really have a bucket list. But after I delivered two of my own children, I decided that witnessing a birth (of someone else’s child) was something I wanted to experience in my lifetime. I realized what an incredible opportunity it would be to see the first breath of life taken by a human being. I also wondered if other people longed for an experience like this. So when I became pregnant with my 3rd child, I decided to invite a few special people to be present at the birth. My husband was gracious enough to allow both of our moms and two of my best friends into the delivery room with us. Everyone was respectful, encouraging, quiet, and compassionate as I labored for hours.
My little team of coaches gave me comforting words, prayed prayers, and mostly waited with anticipation. “You’re doing great Leanne. You can do this.” they quietly cheered. The moment my son entered the world, the small crowd greeted him with relief, tears and joy.
A few years later, I had the honor of being present at the birth of my friend’s daughter. Our little huddle of family and friends waited patiently in the room as labor progressed. We comforted, prayed, coached and waited. There were intense moments and painful moments for my laboring friend, but all of us felt anticipation of when, how and what it would be like. Nurses came and checked and eventually the doctor confirmed, “It was time”. A half hour later, a beautiful baby girl entered the world! What relief: The pain was over. What joy: a child is born!
Recently, I experienced the complete opposite of this momentous occasion as my beloved Grandma passed away. Her health had been declining for a while and we were notified that she didn’t have long to live. For several days, family and dear friends came to her bedside to say goodbye. We kept vigil, praying, comforting, and encouraging. She was in such pain and each breath was difficult work for her. The hospice nurses were attentive and made us aware that her time was coming. As her breathing labored and the end drew closer, we coached and prayed some more. “You’ve done a good job Grandma. It’s okay to go.” A short time later, my beautiful Grandma took her last breath and left this earth. What relief: Her suffering was over. But what sadness, she was gone.
As my husband and I left my Grandma, we held hands and quietly talked about our observations. Nathan reflected, “It’s interesting that waiting for your Grandma to die felt very similar to waiting for the birth of a child- except with very different emotions. We were waiting, praying, coaching and anticipating. But the end results were obviously very different.”
With a birth we were saying “welcome!” and with death we were saying, “goodbye”. After contemplating his words I had to agree. Life and death are polar opposites and yet waiting for each event had a resemblance. It was ironic, the similarities we experienced: the waiting, coaching, praying, and anticipation. When will it happen? How will it happen?
But we can draw peace from the death of my Grandma because we know that she left this world and entered a new one: eternal paradise with her Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”
When you have the assurance of heaven, death doesn't have to be the end of life. Instead it is a transition into a new heavenly body: free of pain and suffering. 2 Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.”
"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? …But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:55-57