looking for those we have lost
Still With You embodies the knowledge that there is a faint partition between life and death. Our loved ones live on, and there is no doubt about it. I am of the feeling that the roles our loved ones have beyond this life don’t die. They have every right and want and longing to be there with us. I don't believe that God is going to make them so busy that they can't be in all the important places, because our relationship with them is still important to them as well. Those bonds are not affected between this world and the one beyond.
It's actually a really fun thing to look for our loved ones every day. When you are able to reach the point where you aren’t drowning in the grief and emotion quite so heavily, you can zoom out and imagine them being there with you. And then they are. That could look like a million different things. It could be arriving at a birthday party and pausing long enough to wonder, “Where would they be standing? What would they be doing?” In that instance, of course they would be singing with you. They would be cutting the cake and blowing up balloons. On a particularly stressful day, they would absolutely be rubbing your shoulders and listening to how you were feeling. They are still doing for you exactly what they always have.
I love to watch, and pay extra close attention when I'm in places or at events that I know they would never miss if they were still here in mortality. I just watch. I put an emotional feeler out there and wonder where they are standing. As I do that, I get this sense, and my mind and heart just take my eyes to a place and then I know they’re there. It’s one of those hand on the shoulder moments. Then something funny will happen in the present, and you’ll just feel this sense of laughter and you wonder what is going on. And then it hits you that they would be laughing with you over this situation, and they are. You get to feel their laughter, their impressions, their whisperings, and it's all right there with you in that moment. You are experiencing it directly.
This is something I have come to experience. It didn’t happen overnight, but as it keeps occurring, I continue to cherish these moments more and more. Are you willing to lean into the feeling and experience it, or are you going to shut them down because of your own worldly doubts and fears? It is my hope and prayer that you never shut them down, but that you lean into those moments and watch for them as they come.
