To my granny

My granny passed away on November 4th. She bravely battled cancer for a little over a year. When she was first diagnosed, things seemed ominous, but God blessed us with one more year with her. It's hard to believe how fast things happened when only 2 weeks ago she was gardening but in a sense it was a blessing, for she passed without any pain and even got to enjoy a last meal (little did she know it).

I praise God for this and the fact that she is with Him in heaven. For she loved the Lord and it's a great comfort to my family that she's now with her Maker. It's just so hard though seeing the anguish in my mother, uncle and especially my grandfather. There is just no way of understanding the kind of pain that comes with losing a life partner.

I've never really had anyone close to me die before. My grans passing has got me thinking a lot about death recently. It's not so much death that I fear, but rather eternity. The inifite idea of never endingingness scares the daylights out of me. I know as a Christian I have eternal hope but I simply do not have a strong enough grasp of the marvels of heaven and what it will be like to worship God forever. Am I the only one who thinks like this?

Dorothy McCarthy

Back to my granny. I said at her funeral that I think she would appreciate somebody saying something in their own words in memory of her, and my little brother, Adam, chose a wonderful verse - 1 Corinthians 13 (often read at weddings, paraphrased) to aid this.

Dorothy was patient and kind; she did not envy nor boast; she was never arrogant nor rude. She wouldn't insist on her own way; she was not irritable nor resentful; she never rejoiced at wrongdoing, but rejoiced with the truth. Dorothy bore all things, believed in all the things of God, hoped for all things, endured all things, her love will never die in us the people she loved...So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

If there was one thing to describe my gran it's that she was a loving person. We know from God's word that God is love, and also when we become Christians, God perfects us to become more like Christ - love. So I think the most special thing about Dorothy was that we caught just a glimpse of what the love, God the Father has for us.

My gran taught us all how to love better. We'll miss you Dorothy.