The length of a life

A text acknowledging grief and receiving life as God’s gift.

 

 

Grandpa passed away at the age of ninety-one.  For nine decades he brightened the lives of many people around him.

That woman’s life ended in her late fifties.  Over those years, she brought countless smiles to her loved ones and touched lives, leaving a lasting impact.

 

The young man passed away before reaching the age of twenty. It was an incredibly hard and painful moment, yet his nearly two decades of life were filled with joy that he shared with his parents, his family, and many others.

The couple, after hearing their baby’s heartbeat at seven weeks, received heartbreaking news just two weeks later: the pregnancy would not continue.

 

Grief and pain during loss are real. They do not depend on the length of a life.
So, how long does a life need to exist to bring joy to our hearts?

Seventy years? Seven months? Seven weeks?

Jesus Christ spent about thirty-three years on earth fulfilling His mission,

When He bore our sin and offered the world reconnection,

becoming the most important person in our lives.

He not only brings joy and brightens our days—He offers us happiness in its truest, fullest sense.

And it takes Him no more than a moment to instill this certainty in our hearts.

 

When we think of the loved ones who have departed,

we find comfort in this truth:

human time is fleeting, but God’s is eternal.

Whether it’s seven days or eighty years that you shared with someone,

When we are united in Christ through faith,

you have an eternity together ahead—

an eternity filled with far more than smiles.

 

We do not know how much time we have left with the people who bring joy to our lives.

What we can do is treasure each moment as a gift, thanking God for the time we have.

And while the length of a life matters to us,
what matters even more is how God uses that life

to bless, impact and encourage those around it.