A Time To Die

A Time to Die

For everything there is a season. . . .

A time to be born and a time to die.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

My friends Ora Jay and Irene lost two daughters in a truck and buggy accident. This unexpected tragedy shook their community, yet in the days following their loss, Ora Jay and Irene knew what to expect. Familiar rituals take place when someone passes away, whether that person is a child or an elderly person. Community members come together to prepare the body, attend the service, and dig the grave. They are even present when the simple wooden coffin is lowered into the ground and the men from the community cover it with shovelfuls of dirt.

Yet unlike a typical non-Amish funeral, the focus isn’t on the deceased but on God. There is no eulogy. There are no photos (Amish believe taking photographs violates God’s commandment to not make an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea as we read in Exodus 20:4). Instead, a minister offers a sermon entirely in Pennsylvania Dutch, and Scripture is read in German. Ministers also read the words to a hymn, but these are never sung at a funeral. Even though there is deep sadness, there is an overarching sense of trust in God’s plan. The season of one’s earthly life is over. God’s will be done.

In our society we often don’t want to think about death, but it happens to all of us according to God’s timing. Just as a field looks barren in the winter, we know spring is sure to come. For followers of God, heaven is that spring. We can look forward to a new life with the Son! It’s a season we can count on if we give our lives to Him.

Heavenly Father, I often push thoughts of death out of my mind. Remind me that being gone from this earth is being present with You. Thank You for eternity. Thank You for the new life I can look forward to!