On Faith
JOHN T. NORRIS
Recently, my father died. He died at home after we took him out of the hospital and placed him under hospice care. He died surrounded by family in his own home. He had long ago dealt with death, had his affairs well organized and had decided it was the time to die. Living fully means
to work at making
the world betterAll of us must, sooner or later, come to terms with death. For adults, I believe sooner is better than later. Support for this belief comes from Elizabeth Kubler Ross's writings on death and dying. Her experience with those facing death led her to conclude that in order to live life fully, one must first come to grips with death.
The Apostle Paul goes so far to taunt death with phrases such as: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" and Jesus said: "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
Are Paul and Jesus being insensitive to the real pain, grief and anguish of death? No. They are underscoring the point that the end is eternal life, not death.
The bottom line might be stated this way: Death will claim you and everyone you know. Get over it. However, not everyone lives. Most never celebrate each day with the enthusiasm of the psalmist who declares, "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Want to know a secret about living? It takes work to live fully, and most people are lazy. To live means you must work at making the world a better place than you found it. You have to work at being honest, patient, compassionate, just, respectful, responsible, truthful, humble, caring, courageous, kind, hopeful and loving. This is not just a list of "nice" personal traits; they are in fact the way one gets the most joy out of life.
A person who succeeds at being all of the above is a person who truly lives life fully.
My father had a full and meaningful life with no fear of death because he worked diligently to be a manifestation of all these things in his everyday living. He followed the advice of St. Augustine, who tells us to treat our bodies as if they would last forever and treat our souls as if we only had one day to live. The good news is, each of us has the ability to do the same.
John T. Norris is pastor of Moanalua Community Church. The life of his father — jazz musician and teacher John Norris, 85 — will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Aut. 24 at Church of the Crossroads.
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