Families Can Be Together Forever by Bob Kaufman

 

Me thinks I squeezed too hard!

So many have responded to this image that I displayed in my Facebook profile yesterday. Trust me, I browse my posts, and linger over this image and others, more than the conglomerate of viewing time of all my other friends. In truth, I get more responses to my posts when they are about my sweetheart than to posts on any other subject.

Lately, my mind has been drawn in contemplation of so many long-time friends who have lost a spouse sometime before now. Last night as I retired to bed, later than she, a strange thought passed not quite quickly enough through my mind. I thought: “One less day together”, obviously looking forward and not backward. I did not want to linger on that thought very long.

When I cast the light of my mind over the wonderful life we have shared, the better and the worst, such thoughts evaporate faster than virga on a hot and relatively dry summer afternoon. The worst helps us to grow together. The best rewards our commitment to one another.

If the “why” question in this context should be in my future, I pray my faith will prevail. With billions of voices inundating the media and all our minds, most claiming there is no God, I strive to hold fast to the voice that says: “There must needs be a Christ,” who will return in glory and “wipe away all tears.” If this is not so, and they are correct who claim that the universe will eventually return to a state of nothingness, that there is no purpose to this existence, then I must ask: “What is all the suffering about?

Rather than conclude that there is no God, I strive to trust that there is. The question then becomes: “For what good purpose do these things happen?” I can only conclude that this life is the ultimate test, and the answer lies in what we may become. The foundation principle for me is the thought that we are, indeed, literal children of a loving Heavenly Father, who knows a whole lot more about this than we do.

In this context, I am comforted in advance, and hopefully thereafter, by the doctrines and sentiments expressed in this video. Therefore, I must share.