A Good, Dutch Death
November 3, 2006
Reuters reported this week that a 65-year old Dutch widow died of a heart attack right next to the grave where she planned to be buried. She was carrying a bag that contained her will and the full details for her funeral, including her choice of music. The grave was already the resting place for her late husband, and her own name was already inscribed on the headstone. Apparently she was ready to die.
I can remember visiting by grandfather's tomb in rural Iowa with my grandmother and being somewhat startled to see her name next to his on the gravestone, together with the names of their brother and sister (two Ryken brothers found both found marital joy with two sisters from the Bos farmstead). To my grandmother it was the most natural thing in the world--good household economics, for one thing, but also an unblinking recognition that she too would die someday soon. And after that, Jesus.
Am I getting good and ready to die when the time comes? Are you?
I can remember visiting by grandfather's tomb in rural Iowa with my grandmother and being somewhat startled to see her name next to his on the gravestone, together with the names of their brother and sister (two Ryken brothers found both found marital joy with two sisters from the Bos farmstead). To my grandmother it was the most natural thing in the world--good household economics, for one thing, but also an unblinking recognition that she too would die someday soon. And after that, Jesus.
Am I getting good and ready to die when the time comes? Are you?
