Goodbye my good friend

Last month I had the difficult experience of saying goodbye to a good friend who was part of my life for 11 years. That friend was my dog Copper.

Our family adopted her from the Humane Society in Moses Lake back in 2003. She was a golden retriever/chow mix, and her name fittingly came from her coat color.

Over the years she was usually my constant companion, whether on walks around town, during days at the church, or during my work at the WSU Lind Dryland Research Station where she loved having the run of the world.

The day I had to say farewell happened to be Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.

Traditionally, this day is one of mourning and repentance, of which the ashes represent. The ashes also remind us of death. I couldn’t help but connect these two events: the loss of my dog and the designated day of mourning.

Grief, sadness, and suffering are all things none of us willingly experience. They are often thrust on us at times in our lives when we’re least expecting it. Those of you who have lost a parent, a child, your health, or other deep loss, know the profound pain these times bring.

As tomorrow is Good Friday, I stop and wonder how Jesus’ disciples must have felt when they witnessed him die a horrible and excruciating death on a cross. He was not only their friend and teacher, but he had also spent the previous three years revealing to them that he was the foretold Christ.

Though Jesus had told them he would rise from the dead, they could not comprehend his words; and his crucifixion at the hands of the Roman soldiers seemed to dash all their hopes and dreams. We, however, know the rest of the story.

This Sunday Christians will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. Because of his victory over death, the New Testament tells us that those who have faith in him “do not grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.”

For Jesus said of himself: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”

No matter what difficult loss or suffering we may live through, God’s love for us and our hope of eternal life transcends them all. And we have the magnificent promise in the Bible that at the consummation of all things, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”

Easter is an annual reminder of this wonderful expectation!