Facing an unpleasant circumstance, sometimes we just want to \u201cget it over with.\u201d But that\u2019s no way to approach people at the end of their life.<\/p>\n
We talked recently on BreakPoint about the push towards assisted suicide and how language is being manipulated to win acceptance for a horrible practice. Instead of using terms like \u201ceuthanasia\u201d or \u201cassisted suicide,\u201d advocates peddle the much-kinder sounding \u201caid in dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s more to say. Today I\u2019d like to focus on how our hearts are being manipulated through a worldview that says nothing good can come from suffering \u2014 especially suffering unto death. And I\u2019d like to do this primarily by telling a couple stories.<\/p>\n
First story: My grandfather and grandmother have been married for more than 70 years. For years, they ran a dairy farm and delivered milk all over northern Virginia. Then because my grandmother was an incredible baker, they started a catering business. And my grandparents supported each other every step of the way. He was an accomplished pianist and church organist; she taught Sunday School for decades, and along the way they had two daughters, seven grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and even some great-greats. What an amazing life.<\/p>\n
But for the last couple of weeks, my grandfather hasn\u2019t been able to get out of bed. The reality is, he\u2019s going to die soon. My grandmother has had no thought of \u201cgetting it over with.\u201d She\u2019s patiently, lovingly walking with her husband through the final days of his life. And she\u2019s not alone \u2014 my mother is there with them, even though she has to make numerous trips back and forth. Other friends and family members are helping as well.<\/p>\n
My mother told me what many people in similar situations say: It\u2019s been difficult, but she wouldn\u2019t have traded these last days with her dad for anything. They\u2019re not \u201cgetting it over with\u201d!<\/p>\n
Story number two, from a coworker: His wife comes from a large family, and I mean large. Her mom had six brothers and sisters, her dad had nine. Well, her grandfather, George, was dying. The house where he and his wife, Marie, lived in had been the gathering place for all kinds of birthdays, holidays, and other things.<\/p>\n
Now it would be a gathering place for his home going. His family decided, as he was growing weaker, that he would die at home. George wasn\u2019t in much pain, but it was hard for him to breathe. All kinds of people would go into the bedroom to visit and talk and sit by his bedside. They gave George palliative care, but that was it. And there was absolutely no thought of \u201cgetting it over with.\u201d<\/p>\n
One day the pastor came. Years before, he and many other young shepherds would go to George and Marie\u2019s for dinner and just to get fussed over. So now, maybe 40 years later, the pastor came to say goodbye. He sat on the edge of the bed with George propped up and Marie sitting next to them. The room was filled with maybe 30 people. There were four generations of family members who stood or sat on the floor and listened to George, Marie, and the pastor talk about old times. There was smiling, laughing, and wiping away tears.<\/p>\n
And George died a few days later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get teary thinking of it,\u201d my colleague tells me. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine not having had that evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friends, euthanasia and assisted suicide will take these difficult but incredibly important moments away from us. We need these moments, to stretch our understanding of love, to deepen our relational thinking and to help our generation steward the heritage given to us by past generations. A culture that just wants to \u201cget it over with\u201d is a dehumanizing one.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard for my grandfather to depend completely on others right now. But it\u2019s good for him, too, both to see people loving him and to let those people serve him. It\u2019s good for him to know his frailty as he prepares to meet God. And it\u2019s good for married couples to walk through the commitment that they made, \u201c\u2018til death do us part, as long as we both shall live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, five states allow assisted suicide, and Colorado may be poised to become the sixth. We can\u2019t let ourselves be manipulated by this culture of death. We must overwhelm it with life, one bedside at a time.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: Shortly after John recorded this script, his grandfather went home to be with the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Facing an unpleasant circumstance, sometimes we just want to \u201cget it over with.\u201d But that\u2019s no way to approach people at the end of their life. We talked recently on BreakPoint about the push towards assisted suicide and how language is being manipulated to win acceptance for a horrible practice. Instead of using terms like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[312,1298,460,1031,452,2811],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}