Her mother had died recently, and this would be the first Christmas without her.
“I used to go home in the evenings, and we’d have such good times together,” she said.
The day they put her in the hospital, the doctor had told the family to stay out of her room so that she could rest.
“So I stayed in the hall,” she continued, “waiting … listening. Finally I could stand it no longer, and I went in to her room. ‘I thought you’d never come!’ Mother said.”
Blinking back tears, the clerk added, with a smile, “You know, I’m thinking those will be the first words she will say to me when I get to heaven!”
The Bible says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15, KJV).
But why? I’ve never understood this verse.
Then I thought about the joyful preparations that I make when the children are going to return home for a visit. When I’m planning, deep down inside, there is a happy glow, a growing excitement.
I realized I have been looking at death from my perspective, and not from God’s point of view. Just as “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents,” (Luke 15:10) so too there is joy in heaven over each child of God who goes Home.
And that is what my friend, the clerk, really was saying.
Learn More:
Read Billy Graham’s answers to questions about death: