I believe in 'Life after Life'........

I believe in ‘Life after Life…… I don’t mean in the way described in Kate Atkinson’s famous book or in the way that some believe in that you can come back and have another go at doing life well……. I believe it in a different way…… I was intrigued the other day to be reminded that Science believes that “matter can neither be created nor destroyed” which means in my mind that we all continue to exist in that other dimension we cannot see at the moment but will one day know as the “new heaven and earth”.

I have been meaning to write this article for a long time…….. there have been key moments that have triggered my thinking……. The death of my lovely Dad last year shortly after his 98th birthday ……….. the amazing journey of Deborah James chronicling her bowel cancer experience and inspiring others to live well and face death with  courage……… and now of course the news of her death…….. hearing Gyles Brandreth speak about losing his Father and saying “I hope there is a heaven”……. So many triggers to the thoughts I have been having.  I guess maybe begin with my Dad……

Here he is pictured the day he married Mum and took on two little girls , gave us his love and wisdom and his name….. we adopted him and he adopted us!  When we lost him it was like losing Mum again as well, as we cleared all the precious memories out of their home and made all the difficult decisions of what to keep and what to give away ……. As we are learning in Storm Club at the moment “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die…… a time to keep and a time to throw away………”

And some of the things I just   could not throw away were his lovely plants…….  Lots from his garden now transported into ours and  lots in pots now in our house.  And I have noticed that they are all flourishing……..I think we may even get some olives on his olive tree this year!  Something about that brings me such hope and pleasure. ‘Life after Life’.

And then of course to Deborah James, now Dame Deborah James…… I was so taken with an article written about her in the Sunday Observer 15.05.22 entitled “in her gracious acceptance of death, Deborah James has given us lessons in how to live”….. so true and so relevant in a world that seems to always be fighting for youth and  grasping at immortality instead of believing in ‘Life after Life.’  Nicci Gerrard writes these moving words “When James over the years talked about dying, she has been talking about living: living illuminated by the knowledge of her ending.  She has been a bright light, vulnerable, enchanting, poignant and embracing life.  Perhaps by publicly confronting her own mortality, she has enabled us better to take a timid peek at our own own…..” I believe in Life after Life’……… there is LIFE beyond the grave!! Revie G July 2022