My faith teaches me that we know not the hour when we will leave this earth; my faith teaches me to prepare by rejoicing in the love of Jesus and showing his compassion to others. It also teaches me that there is something bigger and better awaiting those of us who surrender ourselves to Jesus.
Having that faith helps, but loss still hurts. Experiencing loss is different for everyone. Some only grieve those that they knew personally. Some grieve people they loved and pets they loved. Some of us even grieve over the loss of people we never met yet still impacted our lives. I know a lot of people are experiencing the last one this week with the losses of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry.
Why are we grieving people we’ve never met? Well, as much as we hate to admit it, for those of us Millennials, the deaths of Dolly, Tim, and even Anthony Head earlier this summer hit hard because they are in the peer group of some of our most valued loved ones. Losing them makes us concerned about our own parents, aunts, uncles, and teachers. Likewise, people we’ve never met are often connected to us through an experience with our friends and family. When they pass, we start reflecting on those experiences, and we are saddened by the possibility that others will never experience that positivity, beauty, and grace. I think this is why I have had a strong urge to make a donation to the Imagination Library since Dolly’s passing. The Imagination Library helped foster LilKsby’s love for books, and we have read his “Dolly Books” over and over. I want to do my part to make sure that children and their parents have the opportunity to make memories together for years to come!
As I read back over this post, I’m not sure that it makes a lot of sense. However, it makes me feel better to put the feelings in words. In the meantime, I’m going to strive to Dream More, Be More, Learn More, and Care More. I’m pretty sure if we live like Dolly, then we will be living like Jesus taught us: Loving God with all of our beings and loving thy neighbor as you love yourself.
XOXO,
The Great Kaysby
The Great Kaysby 