Somber Thread: Do you ever think about your own mortality and if so what about?

[Corbinscam]

I've thought about death on a daily basis for as long as I can really remember. Its never really depressed me...it just was what it was. But the more I think about it the more it motivates me to DO things now incase I don't live to be 90. It motivates me to be the kind of person today that I'd want people to remember me as...incase I dont have a tomorrow.

 

[Fenner]

I am getting higher in numbers so I do ponder my own mortality.

Several years ago I had to watch my late wife die. She was in declining health for years and spent the last 3 years of her life in a nursing home. She was not afraid to die as she trusted in the shed blood of Jesus for her sins and was a very spiritual and humble servant of the Lord.

Going to work one day I had a sense that she was going to die that day. It was on a Friday in February in Maine. I asked God to not let her die during my shift as that was probably going to be my last day with that company and I wanted to focus on my work and complete my shift. Soon as my shift was over somebody told me that my brother-in-law was in the hallway and that there was a family emergency of some sort. I told her that I already knew what the emergency was.

She died from a pulmonary embolism. She was on a respirator when I went to see her, her eyes were open but she could not see. Doctor said that she might be able to hear me. Said she was terminal and it was just a matter of time. I gently brushed the hair out of her eyes, told her I love her and that it was OK for her to leave me as we would see each other again in a better place.

I made the decision to take her off the respirator and she died within a minute. I went outside in the gloom of night and cried my eyes out.

She was 59 when she died. My age. I trust in the shed blood of Jesus dying for my sins too. I think about my mortality but it doesn't consume me. I just want to do the best that I can with the time that I have left. I'm not afraid to die because I know where I am going.

I don't take being alive each day for granted as one day my life will end. I'm all set with dying. One day. Perhaps today.

I was with my Dad when he died, he had cancer for a number of years. I kind of had a feeling that he was going to die on the day he did. It was actually my last day of 10th grade. I was sad because I didn't want to leave the school I was done with and I wasn't sure how everything was going to work after he died. My Mom told me I could have a couple of friends over so I had my two best friends come to spend the night. I was at home my Mom came home from the hospital and then the hospital called and told us to come ASAP. So one of my Brothers took me and I'm not sure who went with who but when we got there he was still alive and we talked to him and told him we loved him and it would be ok. He squeezed my hand right before he died. I know he could hear us.

It felt really peaceful. I was sad but he was so sick and it was like this huge sense of peace washed over the room. We all held hands and prayed and went home.

After that I realized death wasn't scary. He seemed at peace, we all felt at peace and I don't know how to explain it, but it was like someone was there saying it's okay. Everything was so quiet after that. I kind of think it's an honor to be with someone at their last moments.

 

[Blain]

tbh I think about death on a daily bases just not how you might think. I always say to God that we only get one life but we also only get one death(body wise) I will tell him how I don't get to choose how and when I die if I die but If I did then I want my death as well as my life to show who and what I stand for and whose heart resides inside of me. If I die because of my own stupidity or say I die by some freak accident well if I have a choice as to how I die then I refuse for this to be it.

Death is only the beginning and if my light in my life is the heart of God then so do I want the darkness of death to shine brilliantly his heart

 

[hornetguy]

Well, like Willie said.... I'm 62yrs old, and it's normal to think about mortality..

I have been through two bouts of radiation for skin lymphoma, and will have to do chemo if it comes back. This sort of makes you stop and think.

Age is a funny thing... it sort of creeps up on you. In my mind, I suppose I had never come to grips with the fact that I am now only 8 years away from the Biblical "allotted" time for humans.... three score and ten... (Willie's already blown past that, praise God...)

But, yes, it does make you think. I know that having lymphoma has made me much more aware of how fleeting life can be. It has certainly changed my prayer life... and my priorities.

It's too easy to get wrapped up in just living life, and we lose sight of why we are here, and what we've been called to do, and be.

 

[PeterJens]

Mortality - I remember my dad denying he was getting old. He reached 50 and got depressed.

He felt he wanted to do so much more. He died aged 58. So at least I hope the Lord is graceful
enough to let me go to 58. My daughters want babies and have me lined up for all these jobs
they want me to do.

To be honest I am not quite so keen.

And yes when you think we live about 21,000+ days, it does not sound much.
I would love to be able to say, I shared something that helped others.

What humbles me is the number of people I have known who had died to cancer
in their 40's and 50's. It makes me realise using each day to Gods glory matters.

No day can be taken for granted, it is all a gift.

My mum is 91 and still mostly there. She potters on and enjoys what comes.
If I can do this and share Gods love while being, amen and Praise the Lord.

 

[Lynx]

I'm reminded of a Chris Rice song.

"Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
Somehow our soul's forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much

Every day is a gift that you've been given
Make the most of life every minute you're living"



When God made this world we were not designed to die. We were made to live forever, which is why it feels so very WRONG when someone dies (despite all the "Circle of Life" and "Natural order of things" junk we use to try to rationalize it.) But this world is no longer the perfect world it was when God put people in it, and we all have a limited amount of time.

The question then becomes how will I use the time I have? Death is inevitable at some point. If death is a given, what am I doing with the time I have? When I get to the end of this life will I be satisfied with what I have done with the time I had, or will I feel it was wasted?

Myself, I plan to be too busy living to think about dying. When I die I hope there are at least three things someone else will have to complete that I was in the middle of doing at the time.

I'm also reminded of a quote someone wiser than I once said.
"If you love life do not waste time, for time is what life is made of."


Oh yeah, and here's that song.
[video=youtube;ciYQmlh4Xe4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciYQmlh4Xe4[/video]

The actual singing starts a whole minute in.

 

[AuntieAnt]

Yes, everybody thinks about death, dear.

That's life!

 

[AuntieAnt]

Seriously though, the Word of God says the last battle is death. Which makes me wonder why we get such excitement doing things like going on totally scary rides at the amusement park or doing other risky things like drag racing, parachuting out of planes, rock climbing, surfing on wild waves, etc. It's like the ultimate thrill for us is to challenge death.

The older I get, the more I believe God purposely instilled in us the will to survive because if we truly knew how glorious it is to be finally free of mortality and the cares of this life, we might all just take a high dive off a cliff and go home.

The Lord in his great wisdom has planned for each of us a purpose in his will. Time hasn't anything to do with it as time is only in our imagination. I believe the "death" we imagine doesn't exist either. Because Jesus says, "Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

And, "Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world."

 

[Yahweh_is_gracious]

I've been kind of fascinated with death ever since I learned of and understood the concept of it. I've said in passing hundreds of times over the decades that I would probably never live long enough to see old age, and I'm pretty sure it's going to come to pass. I'm kind of excited about death. Surely it has to be better than life. Life sucks.

 

[Deidre]

This is so strange, I've been thinking a lot about mortality lately. It started last year after my grandmother died, and ever since then, I've had it on my mind. My mortality. My now fiance's mortality. My parents' mortality. And when I think about it, it's not necessarily a bad thought. I know I'll be with Jesus, but there's something unsettling about it for me lately. Idk why.

 

[AuntieAnt]

My favorite aunt died in my arms and it was unusually beautiful and fascinating. I had taken care of her for about a year before that and watched her suffer through so much pain from cancer. When she finally took her last breath, she exhaled slowly and it seemed like her body gently lifted off the bed as her spirit left and floated out the window. Then it was like she was asleep, but I knew it wasn't her anymore. Just a shell. I felt her freedom and I was so happy for her! ♥

 

[mcubed]

I do… it’s crazy… I’ll think about how I want to die and all I can come up with is ways I don’t want to die. Which means I do not have a death wish… I have decided it would suck to be stabbed 25 times before death, kidnaped and tortured before death, or set on fire. I do hope my death is quick like a bolete to the brain. I picture dyeing for being a Christian…. The grand seen… because I saved some non-Christian and my dyeing words are find Y-shua…lol those things I could die for!
But when my imagination is not acting so grandiose there is a real fear of it… not where I’m going but the how and for autistic son whom I may leave behind. This is where my faith comes in. not just heaven, but that G-d has it ALLL COVERED; my going home and the who I leave behind. This reminds me though, of evidence that Y-shua is G-d, he is the only one who could correctly predict His death. For the rest of us it is a guessing game. Thus giving us more confidence in Home we have believed…..

 

[AbigailZeke]

When I was very young, like 6-8 years old. My mother would send my sister and I to the nearest church to our house. And it was a Jehovah's Witness Church. They don't believe that dying, means we go to heaven. They believe that dying is like sleeping until we are called to Paradise (at least that's how I remember it).

So, growing up in a domestically abused household, I thought dying is the best way out. I have tried killing myself when I was like 9 or so but I couldn't get past the pain (the worst would've been cutting my wrist and letting it bleed). But when I was sure I was gonna die if I didn't do anything about it, even if death meant no more pain, the people I leave behind, what of them? I wouldn't be there to see their happiest moments, I wouldn't be there to experience the kind of joy I don't know I'll ever experience again. That was before I met Jesus.

Now that I've become a Christian, I have MORE reasons to stay alive as long as possible. My eternity is secured. I AM going to heaven when I die. But what of the rest of the world? My atheist EX! My friends! My other relatives. What of them?! They may have never experienced real joy on earth, but after death, they won't ever have a chance.

 

[JesusLives]

While I realize the odds are that someday I will die I don't dwell on it... I really think more about living... I know when I had to write my first will because I had a young daughter and wanted to make sure she was cared for and not left as a ward to the state since I was a single parent as I started to write out the will I cried thinking of my death. It was hard to write the will through the tears....I made it though and thank God it never had to be used. My daughter is 36 now and out on her own doing well so I am busy with living life to ponder the end of it.

Sure life insurance is there to make sure burial costs are covered but no one will get rich when I move on out of this life... Living is more interesting to me as I know nothing about dying and for now would like to keep it that way. God knows when my time is up, but I'd rather be alive and meet Him in the clouds when He returns than die.... That is if I had a choice in the matter.