92 Years
9.2 Decades
33,580 Days
805,920 Hours
48,355,200 Minutes
2,901,312,000 Seconds
How do we measure a man’s life? Is it enough to look at it in human concepts of time, or does none of this matter at all when we look at the bigger picture. What of a man’s contribution to society, his contribution to his family, his children’s children? Or is the ultimate measure his contribution to God? One of, if not the most in-measurable aspect of all?
I find that none of this matters to me right now as I contemplate what will end up being the last few days of my Grandpa’s life. He is 92. A man I never thought would succumb to age. Someone who taught me that “a fool and his money are soon parted,” and any number of other nuggets of wisdom.
And as I sat tonight looking at him in a coma, I felt not sad, but satisfied that he had lived a full life. That he had raised his children right, that he had stood by his wife’s side when she became wheelchair bound. I sat and prayed not for his recovery, but that his time he had left would be without pain.
I prayed for forgiveness asking for God to forgive his sins because he could not ask himself. All men have sin, no matter how good we might be, there is sin. So I prayed and asked for absolution. I asked that God let him shed his mortal coil and join him in his kingdom.
Its always easier for me when the person passing away has lived a full life. I know that my Grandpa has past the point of needing me, his path is set. My Father will be the one that can use my strength, and I will give it to him emotionally, physically and spiritually. Mourn not for the dead, they are in a better place. Mourn instead for the living, the heart aches and the soul cries out for the ones we have lost.
Tags: 2 Decades, 92, Absolution, contribution, elderly, Few Days, Fool And His Money, Forgiveness, god, Grandpa, Heart, life, man, Mortal Coil, Ninety Two Years, Nuggets Of Wisdom, time, Wheelchair
September 5th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
His journey ended this morning at around 7 AM.