Five Minute Friday: Celebrate

The word is celebrate, and 'though there are SO MANY things I could write about celebrations and celebrating, I decided on the idea that first came to mind...

Go:

My mother's cousin passed away.  It was unexpected.  A shock.  The details were disturbing and made me think about a dear friend of mine, the mother of some acquaintances, who died through mysterious events a few years ago around this time of year.  

I think about her every year as fall comes on and miss her.  

But then, {as I pondered it today} I thought, what a grand celebration for both my cousin and friend!  Wow! My cousin has been suffering in a fragile body for so many years.  My imagination can't even do Heaven justice as I think about the grandeur that he must be experiencing now reunited with his parents, grandparents, my grandmother, and Most Important of All, his Savior Jesus!

I think too about Mrs. C., a pastor's wife, vibrant, a godly mother...  She's still rejoicing in Heaven!  After all these years, 'though the details {of her passing} are still no more easy to think on, she is pain-free, continuing to drink in joy after joy and experience upon wonderful experience of being blissfully with her Lord, without sin, without regret.  Now that's a celebration!  

I can hardly wait sometimes as I think about it!  

So, while we mourn the passing and absence of dear ones, we celebrate those of them that were redeemed through the Precious Blood of Christ and are forever celebrating with Him in His glorious Home!

Stop.

{Yes, I did editing, as you might have guessed from the decorative parentheticals above.  There was also some inexcusable misspelling and much needed punctuation that I simply could not let lie!}

For other wonderful thoughts about the word celebrate, visit my friends over at the Five Minute Friday blog party!