Absent Yet Present

   While Jesus’ body was important and his death was a great crime, and a profound loss, his Spirit continues to live on in a very real way, among those who remember and follow him. And because he is no longer with us in the flesh, his Spirit is not limited to one place or one time. Because he has gone to his Maker, his Spirit is unleashed to be at work in every place and every time.
   I don’t mean, in any way, to equate the Spirit of Jesus with the spirit of my mother... But I have discovered, in a somewhat similar way, that the nearer I live the way she taught me, the closer I will feel to her, and the more I will feel her spirit, living in me and with me. It doesn’t diminish the importance of her death, or the pain of her absence, but it does empower me to grieve with hope, the hope that although she is absent, she continues to be profoundly and powerfully present in my life.