Mum has never left our thoughts this year, since she died on November 5, 2009. She was a loving and conscientious mother.
Though none of her four children will forget her even for a moment until we see her again, an anniversary nevertheless has a certain significance for me personally.
If you have experienced loss like I have then you know what a distress, what a burden it can be. It can last for many years. But with each year that passes I feel that I have moved further from the hurt. What’s more, even something as excruciating as the death of a dear parent can benefit the bereaved. We can grow because of our sadness, develop in new ways, become better, more thoughtful, more considerate people capable of greater empathy.
I know for a certainty that ‘the hour is coming when all those in the memorial tombs will hear [God’s] voice and come out.’ I know likewise that ‘the righteous themselves will inherit the earth’ when God’s will is finally ‘done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Then our family can continue growing closer and knowing each other even better forever as perfect individuals. (John 5:28; Psalm 37:29; Matthew 6:9, 10.)
