In my last blog, I spoke about living life in the realistic awareness that I will die within the next several years. In a theoretical sense, we all know that we are going to die, but most of us live in denial of that truth as we continue to fill our days with activities and accomplishments. As I enter my 72 years of life, I am filled with gratitude for all that I have been privileged to experience but I also am more aware that someday it will have to come to an end.
I am now faced with what I believe about death in a more personal way. About twenty years ago, I had a mini-rehearsal of this question when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. While I was more fortunate than many in the outcome of my treatment, I had no way of being sure of that at the time. Two things happened for me at the time. One, I realized that I actually did believe what I had been preaching to others about God, not death having the final word. But, two, I also was rather optimistic about my being able to triumph over this challenge. While I knew that death was a very real possibility, and I was willing to accept that if it came, still I didn’t really believe it was going to come.
But when it does come, and it will eventually, what is it that I believe about that reality? While that is a long preamble, on my next blog I will try to speak to my belief about death and how that affects my living in this phase of my life.
