In the work that I do as a funeral celebrant, I see LOVE every day. I don’t work in the death industry, I see it that I work in the industry of LOVE.
An Indian sage once said “Life is love, and Love is life” – and it has become one of my favourite sayings. I believe we are all LOVE. We are born into LOVE, and we leave this world surrounded in LOVE.
Today, I led a burial service for a lady who was a wife, a mother and a grandmother. Her husband of 64 years died suddenly, only 10 weeks ago. He had been her Carer. She was present at his burial; however dementia had taken over her mind and body and so one would say she was not fully present. I believe at a soul level, she knew he had passed, and 10 weeks later, she left this life to join him. These 10 weeks were the longest they have ever been apart from one another in their 64 years.
As I read the final words to her, her three children, all parents themselves, knelt down together, and pulled the lever. Surrounded by their own families, their mother was lowered into the ground to join their father, and we all watched in silence.
I cannot tell you what a beautiful sight that was – it was complete LOVE. The mother, who gave these three children life, now lowered to her final resting place with the father who also gave them life. The cycle of life.
Despite today’s wild and windy weather conditions, there was such a peace and stillness that enveloped us all as this took place. Total LOVE.
It reminded me of this verse I have always found deeply moving –
“Our death is not an end
if we can live on in our children
and the younger generation.For they are us,
Albert Einstein
our bodies are only wilted leaves
on the tree of life.”
We are eternal; we live on in our children, our grandchildren and our generations to come. This is the legacy we leave to this world.
What an absolute honour and privilege to be a part of something so special, and surrounded in such LOVE – my life is all the richer for having witnessed that. This is one of the many examples that I see every day, of ‘The Love in Death’.