These Are My JOTtings...

Mom's Earth-Suit Has Been Stored in the Chifforobe

As a Christian I have come to understand that humans are spirit-beings, who live inside a physical house or "suit of clothes." (I realize this is just the opposite of popular belief in modern-day Society. Many believe that humans are bodies, who have a spirit.) I have observed the passing of many friends and relatives over the past few years. It is amazing that every body, which remains after the spirit leaves, does not fully look like the person I have always known.

May I offer that it appears the spirit is substantive to some degree.

1. As long as the human spirit lives inside of the physical body, there is a fullness to the body. The features are more rounded and if you will, "alive."
2. When the human spirit leaves the physical body, there is an emptiness to the body. The body appears to be gaunt and vacuous, since there is no substantive LIFE within to fully occupy the body.

Simply put, as long as we humans are alive on Planet Earth, we appear to be wearing a "suit of clothes" (aka our physical bodies) that wears out as easily as any suit of clothing we purchase from a popular clothing store and wear for months or years.

As I took my final looks at my mother's face in the casket today, I realized that I had never really seen that face before. I saw all of the basic features, but they lacked something. My mother was not inside.

When we are getting ready for a wedding or a funeral or some occasion which requires formal attire, we often lay out the suit of clothes on the bed for inventory purposes. We ask ourselves, "Do I have everything I need to be properly dressed for going out?"

The dress suit or formal dress may look beautiful as it lies on the bed, but it lacks something. We are not inside. The clothing can go nowhere, until one of us puts on the suit.

I used to hear the expression, "The clothes make the man." However, I would respectfully disagree. "The human being fills out (or makes) the clothes."

Today, we had a very respectful and beautiful funeral and graveside service for my Mom. However, Mom was not there. Mom is in Heaven. Our responsibility on this day was to properly store away her earthly suit of clothes in a chifforobe (or changing closet) in readiness for her return, when The Lord transforms her clothes into a new and eternal suit that will never wear out.

by Jay O'Toole
on February 27th, 2017