Waypoints and Words by Thomas Fideler

Articles

A journal of commentary, narrative and poetry about navigating through life

200

The Passage

I have seen life come into this world and I have seen life taken out. I definitely prefer the former but am a bit in awe of both.

Twenty-seven years ago I stood in awe as my daughter Anna emerged from her mother’s womb; a new life that had never before existed, was present among us. And in that moment it seemed I foresaw a future for her, a path of joys and sorrows, justice and injustice, victories and defeats, moments of strength and times of weariness. The unrolling of time and life lay before her, as it does before us all. This small being would assuredly change the world in some small ways and some great ways, and affect the lives of all those who were to come into the path of her influence; her journey had just begun.

Several days ago I was present for the end of a journey; it was the passing of my father-in-law, Robert Heriot. Our family gathered in his hospital room on July 03 and witnessed his passage from life unto death. In a moment of time, for which I was unprepared and that seemed a bit illusory, I heard the last faltering breath rattle from his throat and I felt the last single beat of his heart at the point where I had laid my two fingers on the pulse in his neck; I watched as all color and life drained from his face. This moment, like no other I can recall, engendered in me a visceral sense both of the transitory nature of our mortality and the finality of death regarding the things of this life.

He was not a wealthy man; he held no special position or power; he was not a force to be reckoned with by the world's standards. But no matter, for Robert and us all, here is an understanding that is so clear to me at this moment: whether we are powerless, starving and destitute, or influential, wealthy and heads of state and industry¾no matter what our condition or position in this life¾death brings us all down into a common company of souls. Those who have entered through death's door find, in an instant, all things earthly are gone, all riches and power null and void. In an instant our life's actions and words are ended. At that moment the record of the manner in which we have expended the time allotted to us on earth is complete and can never be abjured, but by the grace and mercy of God.

Alfred Tennyson wrote,

"Death's truer name,

Is 'Onward,' no discordance in the roll

And march of that eternal harmony

Whereto the world beats time."

It is this eternal “roll and march” in which we are all conjoined, from the moment we are brought into this world. And daily we deliberate the choices by which we lay the course and foundations of our life and beyond; death is merely a gate on the pathway of eternity through which we must pass as we continue on our way. As I watched Robert cross over into another realm I was stirred and brought to mind these words:

“For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die, must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish but will live forever. When this happens, then at last this Scripture will come true, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' O death, where then your victory? Where then your sting? For sin¾the sting that causes death will all be gone; and the law, which reveals our sins, will no longer be our judge. How we thank God for all of this! It is he who makes us victorious through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (1 Cor 15:52-57)

It is God alone who possesses immortality, not we ourselves. It is he who gives all life and he who, in his wisdom, cuts the cord, or allows it to be cut, when our time on this earth is over. For "...he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else...and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' "(Acts 17:25-28)

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