Celebration of Life

Just as part of our family was celebrating the birth of a child, the other side of our family was mourning the loss of theirs. I had a dear cousin pass away this past week at a fairly young age of a sudden illness. Her memorial service was today. I normally call it a funeral, but this time I truly feel as if I attended a memorial service. You see, while there was no doubt that this was a difficult time for them, I truly feel that they were embracing the parts of her life that needed to be celebrated. Her nephew gave the eulogy and did an amazing job of describing her life and summing it up in such a short amount of time. She had a love of people and as he said, her love was not based on anything that person had done for her and for anyone else. She just loved so that others would feel love. It was her gift to anyone who wanted it. He closed with Eph. 2:4-9 which speaks of Christ's love for us. Christ has an amazing, unconditional love for everyone. All we have to do is receive it. What an amazing tribute for her love to be compared to the love of Christ. Shouldn't we all strive to have a Christ-like love for those around us. Even those who haven't done anything to deserve it.