Taking a larger view - with an exclamation point!

Because there have been a lot of people visiting this blog after Googling "Aimee Lorang" during the past week (the anniversary of the accident), I am re-posting this, which summarizes our thoughts:

 

While someone is walking this earth, we tend to see progress, plans, potential. And when they are no longer with us, the meaning of their life is suddenly crystallized for us, because there is no more coming. And when that life ends before the age of 80, we have the tendency to react with surprise, as if it were too short. We may even have the thought, as I have heard people say, “So much potential, ended.”

 

But this is a small view. Let’s rise above the small and take a larger view.

 

A life that seems short in our eyes is not incomplete. For reasons only He understands fully (though He sometimes allows us a glimpse), every life is limited to a certain number of years. When that life on earth ends, there is nothing lost or abbreviated; that is simply all the living God planned for that person, whether it be 1 hour, 1 day, 1 month, 1 year, 1 decade, or 1 century. That particular life is complete, though we were probably not prepared for it to end. In our eyes, something has been abrupted, but in God’s eyes, there is a complete fullness.

 

God only wanted Aimee to live for 17 years. And they were full years. Aimee was not waiting around for her life to begin; she was fully living each and every moment of it (we were just laughing about how many exclamation points she used when she described her life’s activities – Aimee’s life was an exclamation point!). Was she planning for her future? Of course. But was she waiting for something to happen before she started living? No way. She was embracing every moment with a joy and optimism that kept us all smiling.

 

And she is not less alive now, but MORE alive – fully alive. She is not gone, only changed. She is not far from us, she is nearer than ever, and (as one encouraging note reminded us) she will never be far from us again.

 

We cannot help but feel sorrow in her absence from our view – we miss her. But let’s not mourn for her as if she is not enjoying the fullness she always reached toward – she is rejoicing now, and paving our way to the joy she knows. We will be with her again.

 

In the interim between now and then, let us live as fully as she did, with the same openness and generosity.

 

And let’s not hesitate to use exclamation points!

 

 

Comments

[Anne Madden, a church friend of the Lorangs]

Amen! So beautifully put! Aimee's earthly life is complete. God's plan for her time on earth is complete, and we can rejoice that Aimee finished His plan and is now enjoying God's heavenly plan for her, for which we long as well. Sometimes I envy those who have moved from this earth, but then I remember that I still have God's work to do here, and it will all unfold in His time. I am so happy for Aimee, even if I still endure the earthly mourning with and for her family and friends.

[clare]

i love you forever, aimee!

[Anne Lorang]

Well said - Amen! :)
Since the accident, I've been very aware that God knew the day He would give Aimee to us, as well as the day He would take her back (or any of us, for that matter). I'm so grateful for our time together!
As much as we miss Aimee, there is a little of her in all of us; the thought of her in Heaven eases our loss. I sometimes remind myself that she was never meant to be here in this time and place, even though we assumed she would be.
I know it'll be a lot of fun when we see her again!