DAILY MEDITATION
 
A Grateful Death
August 28
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When we think about death, we often think about what will happen to us after we have died. But it is more important to think about what will happen to those we leave behind. The way we die has a deep and lasting effect on those who stay alive. It will be easier for our family and friends to remember us with joy and peace if we have said a grateful good-bye than if we die with bitter and disillusioned hearts.
 
The greatest gift we can offer our families and friends is the gift of gratitude. Gratitude sets them free to continue their lives without bitterness or self-recrimination.
Henri Nouwen
For further reflection...

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful... - Hebrews 12: 28 (NIV)
Your response...

"God, who is not in a hurry, has called us into a life that is attentive to God's reconciling work."  - Christopher Smith and John Pattison, Slow Church

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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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