Waiting And Refusing To Die

After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And it was told to Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. Genesis 48:1-2 

Jacob was very ill, near death, but the arrival of Joseph and his sons gave him an uncanny strength to finish what was unfinished. He needed to give Joseph the birthright of the family and adopt Joseph’s two sons as his grandchildren. The future inheritance of Israel depended on this moment and Jacob knew it.

Perhaps you’ve known someone who was near death with a prediction that they wouldn’t last much longer. Then, they hung on against all odds and refused to die. Something was unfinished. There was someone they needed to see; something they needed to say. When that person arrived, they might have gained their full faculties. Like Jacob, they rose to have a needed conversation.

After moving to Georgia, I made a connection with an older saint named Iris. She became a prayer partner and spiritual mother to me. Our bond was as deep as family and because the foundation was spiritual, our connection was like iron. Iris was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. It took her life in a matter of weeks. I was out of town when she lay on her deathbed in a local hospital.

I kept calling home to get an update on her but got the news that she was holding on beyond what anyone thought possible. When I got back into town, I went straight to the hospital to see her. I can’t say for certain that she was waiting to say goodbye to me but within an hour after visiting her, she died. I got to talk with her, sing to her, and express my thanks for all she had meant to me.

We will each say goodbye to someone we love. It’s inevitable. We should tuck away the truth of this reality ~ that a person will often hang on at the end because something needs closure. Sadly, they are oftentimes in a coma and can’t express what they want to say. Families need to be prayerful and intuitive to realize what is happening. Otherwise, there will be needless suffering for everyone.

Is there unfinished business in your family, things that need to be expressed that haven’t yet been said. Maybe there are relationships that need to be reconciled.  We often waste the joy that could be ours if we made things right much earlier in life. The bedside of a dying loved one is not the ideal place for long overdue family communication but if it’s the only option, it’s a crucial one. Loved ones should die in peace and leave those they love with quieted hearts.

 Lord, give spiritual intuition to any who need to know how to wrap up unfinished business with family. Amen