You are the second dead body I have seen today
I don’t know you
But I care about someone who loved you – and always will
You have had the loving touch of a funeral director
to make you look –
Look like you are sleeping
I’m sure it comforts the family to see you this way
You are dressed in a suit
All dressed up to go to your final resting place
No longer in a hospital bed
There is no more waiting for you to take your last breath

This morning I was called to be with a family whose loved one was
actively dying
When I arrived he was no longer breathing
No longer alive
No breath
He too, was a dead body
He too was surrounded by those who love him – and always will
He was newly dead
No makeup
No loving touches to make him look more presentable
To make him look
less dead

With love and respect we paused at his bedside
for a moment of silence
And remembrance
And a prayer of thanksgiving for the love that was shared during his lifetime
Thanksgiving for the promise of eternal life 
and never-ending love was proclaimed

And life goes on
Life, death, life beyond death
And the promise that love never dies

Death changes things
It is the reality of finality 
No do overs
It is not a joyful time for singing allelujah by and by
Or flying away
Death is a holy thing
Numbing
Reflective
Afterall, we are dead for a long time
Longer than our short lifetime in human form
We will all become dead bodies 
Bodies that held hands and laughed and hugged
And loved and were loved
Dead bodies
But not dead souls or spirits
Bodies die
But love does not
Love lives on