I attended a funeral today following a tragic suicide death in our neighborhood last week. A 46 year old father of 3 teenagers took his own life a week ago. The event itself, the aftermath, and the effects on many, many other lives are all tragic and overwhelmingly sad in nature. There has been a bit of a pall over our neighborhood as a result. However, in the midst of the gloom, I have seen miracles and a tremendous outpouring of love and kindness.
The funeral was simple. There was a life sketch given by his brother-in-law followed by two talks given by our current bishop and our previous bishop. I had a number of thoughts as I sat and processed it all. The casket was followed into the chapel by his family. It wasn't a small family. Many people kept walking in to fill in the first several rows of pews. All I could think was, "Wow, look at all these family members who loved him. Why didn't he see or recognize that before he chose to take his own life?" From there I looked around at the large congregation gathered. It was like a reunion of ward members from the last several years. There were people from all over gathered together to mourn with those that mourn. As I looked at each of them, my mind's eye was flooded with memories. I could make a long list of the amazing things I've seen done by those people over the years. There is so much good being done in the world.
I saw people from lots of different social circles in the community. His wife works at the elementary school, so there were several teachers and staff members there. Again, I was struck by this thing that brought us all together to talk about Christ. No one was separated by the social context that might have brought them there. It was abundantly clear to me that as fellow beings, we have so much more in common than we'll ever have different. We just want to be happy.
Each of the talks emphasized the hope, peace, and comfort that come from the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was worded in different ways, but the message was clearly one that Jesus Christ can do the impossible. He can fix the broken pieces, even when so many things are broken. One of the speakers referred to a story a woman once wrote about how she dealt with suicide and its after effects. It's called "The Broken Bowl" and I thought it was beautiful. You may read it here yourselves.
The funeral capped an emotional and pensive week for so many. I'm sure it marks only the beginning of a very long road for his wife and daughters. I've heard a number of people questioning a lot of things this week. As I ponder it now, I can only remind myself that we have absolutely zero control over what has already happened. Those things are in the books. What we have control over is what we do today. We can impact the present and the future. Maybe we can make a choice today that will be a bright spot in someone else's day. And we can certainly move forward with a hope of a brighter day.
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3 comments:
I'm really sorry to hear about this tragic event. Thank you for the link to that story. It really gave me a lot to think about on so many different levels. It was a good reminder to be more compassionate and less judgmental, as we are all broken bowls in someway or another, and it truly is only Christ who sees us as a whole.
That was a beautiful story. It seems like there has been several fathers taken this week. The Bowser's lost their neighbor is an accident leaving six young children. It always makes you stop and ponder for a few minutes. I am glad your neighbor has so many loving people to surround her.
What a beautiful post. I have beencontemplating writing one as well since very similar things have been going through my head over the past week. I feel truly blessed to live in our neighborhood, where everyone is so supportive of each other.
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