The Great Leveler

(What we all have in common but no one likes to talk about)

Being around death and walking others through death is kind of my thing. After twenty years in healthcare, I've seen more death than most people see in their lifetime. And like most people, I wonder what the point was. Seems only up to this point, the only special power seeing death gave me was PTSD. ​

And then Aron was diagnosed with medulloblastoma September 4th.

The verse that keeps coming back is 'for such a time as this.'

Maybe my years in healthcare were preparing me for what would lie ahead with my son.

Maybe the familiarity with process helped me grasp the extreme possibility that my son may die before me.

Maybe the hundreds of conversations with others helps with the acceptance of something completely out of my hands.

Death is such a taboo topic for Western culture. I learned this even more so involving discussions about death with my family, sharing his diagnosis.

I wish talking about death happened more

Talking about death needs to happen more.

Getting completely raw, what is it about death that makes people shut down?

I sincerely want to challenge you, why is death only talked about when someone is at 'that' door? Or has walked through? Is walking through?

What about death scares you? What about death is uncertain for you? What about death that makes you face your ever present finite existence?

In all cultures, there is mourning.

But talk of death does not happen in all cultures.

And yet, death is the great leveler.

Death is what everyone has in common; we'll all experience it at one point or another.

How does this land with you? Challenge you?

Are there unanswered questions, whispers in your soul that are continually silenced because you're not ready to face the fact that you're not ready?

Going deeper, what would need to happen in your life to be ready?

What do know you need to change but aren't because time seems limitless?

Spend some time with a hospice nurse, trauma nurse, policemen.

There is a deep understanding and acceptance that life can simple cease this side of heaven at any given moment, as fast as a breath in or out.

The stories I could tell of those who have passed that were simply doing their daily life, regular living, and then theirs were over.

What's left unsettled in your soul?

What do you want to change?

What can you let go of?

What can you embrace?

What questions do you need to pursue to get the answers that bring you peace about death?

About the end?

About eternity?

Throughout the Bible, God did not give answers to the 'why.' People were simply reminded of who God is and who they were as His children.

That is enough for me. ​

Ecclesiates is one of my favorite books weirdly enough.

Being reminded of our mortality is humbling and necessary to bring us to the present.

I say embrace death.

Embrace the challenge, answer the questions, find those who want to talk about 'it'.

Be reminded. Be uncomfortable. Be scared. Be at peace.

Before it's too late. And you find yourself in a doorway you weren't ready for.

Camp around the fire talking about death, the end, and the present and now.

Then in the morning, when the fire's burned out, pack up and move forward on your journey remembering your finite-ness, and the gift of the present, the here and the now, and the power to choose to be ready.

Remember, it's just death.