A Perspective on the Election

Two death messages in one day very effectively provide perspective for the significance of this election day.  What happens today in the election might make a difference for two years or four years or six years (and maybe it won't make much difference at all), but for those who died today, it was the first day of an eternity on the other side of the Great Divide.  For those left behind, life on earth has changed forever. 

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In our community, Julia Stutzman (40) died this evening.  I've written about her before.  In her trusting, childlike way she proceeded confidently toward this event.  Five days ago she was present at another viewing, and nine days ago she was in church on communion Sunday.  She's been on morphine for some time, and that helped make possible her participation in whatever she felt like participating in.  

Punctual and methodical, Julia filled her place reliably.  To the little children, she was known for possessing a ready supply of candy, and she often rocked a baby after church.  Like others in her family--Lyle, for example--she sang effortlessly--far less trained than Lyle, but possessing a good deal of the same natural singing ability.  

With Julia's passing, her parents, Perry and Judith, will be empty-nesters for the first time since Julia was born.  Because she was mildly mentally handicapped, she did not leave home, although she had her own living quarters in a basement house next to her parents' house.  

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I did not know Rachel Witmer, who also died today in an accident which took place in the community in Colorado where she had gone to help prepare for her son's wedding this weekend.  The prospective bride's family was here this past weekend to attend the funeral of the 94 year old family patriarch, Ervin Miller--father and grandfather.

Rachel's death seems untimely and ill-placed in the extreme--several days before a family wedding, several states away from her present home, and likely much farther away than that from her community of origin.    I suspect it will take a long time for anyone to  make sense of this.  I know though that there will be a determination to believe that God has good purposes in mind for all involved, and this tragedy will not thwart His purposes.  

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Julia's death seems good by contrast to Rachel's.  She was in her own home, surrounded by family and friends.  Preparations could be made ahead of time, and advancing illness made release from suffering a welcome prospect.  The sorrow I know is present, however, makes me wish it didn't have to happen this way.  Death just isn't pretty, no matter how "ideal" we want to believe it can be.  

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I'll probably check in on the election results before I go to bed.  If it looks like Romney's winning, I'll sleep well.  If Obama wins, I'll sleep just as well.  Winning and losing when the stakes are as piddley as a presidential election probably isn't that big a deal.  

I'll make sure though that I spend some more time praying for the Stutzman and Witmer families.  That feels like a big deal.