After All (death)

After all the flowers.
After all the family and friends
After all the food.
After all the sympathies.
After all the tears and after all is said and done.
Death is a new beginning to an end. 
I sat and listened to the Pastor presiding over the service and said to us that the Earthly life has ended but the Heavenly life is just beginning. 
We all hear this or something similar each time  we go to a funeral, but we actually do not know because we are still here in our Earthly form. All we hear is that one day we to will be called and we are never promised tomorrow and what a glorious day that will be. For as we are born to live- we live to die. It comes to all of us eventually. 
As we sat and listened to what Heaven will be- the tears streaming- the heart heavy with inconsolable pain- we begin to feel hope of one day--- that one day--- we are reunited with those that went before us. 
It is not easy. We never forget or never truly get over the loss but with each day we wake gets/helps us to cope.
Believe in your Faith and the Promise that from funeral- burial to grief is just the beginning of our journey to seeing them again. 

Thanks----