alma 28-30

alma 28 - 30
28:1-4 the people of ammon are settled in jershon, the lamanites come up to battle and tens of thousands are killed on both sides. 11-4 the difference lies not in how they died but how they lived. while the families of the righteous miss their loved ones, they do not mourn. (my wording is not the same as the scriptures use mourn but stick with me on this for a second) 

the difference between miss and mourn is that mourning means that there is a permanent loss. there is no hope in mourning. missing your loved ones mean that you know where they are, that their spirit lives and one day everyone will be reunited. i learned the difference when my grandfather, who was for me as a father, past away. at first, i fell into mourning, slipping ever deeper. then God reminded me that there is eternity. He reminded me that it was normal for me to miss the ease of communicating with and doing things with my grandfather, but i couldn't lose sight of his being still around. after all, my grandfather could still see and watch over me and my family. it was just that we could not see him. we can still feel his presents at times, he is still around. i told my grandmother the other day that with us being so far apart, at least papa can be with us. he is not constrained by the 18 hour flight it would take for her to come see us.

the way we live now, is important. we often think about the people we are doing work for and searching for in genealogy and temple work. they are people, not cards or just names. life continues. life lies in the spirit, not the flesh.