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Our Beloved

“WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT GOD”

by the late Rev. Birdilyn V. Watson, A former member of Pastor Cloy, Bethel AME Church New Bedford.

John 11:25, 26

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."

They say God is infinite. Therefore, since God is life and love, life and love are infinite. If not love, life definitely is. But love, once it has been perceived and given, it cannot be taken back. It may change or discontinued but that same love, like a note in a song, once it has hit its peak, cannot be retracted. The memory of that love lives in your experience, in your life, whether good, bad, or indifferent. Life, in order for death or decay to take place, life must be present in some form. Death and decay are changed forms of life. There is no life; there is no room for decay. Decay itself is a life process. A degenerating cycle which when completed produces another simpler or more diversified form of life. Our bodies are continually decaying. Without decay, growth is stunned since there is no room for new and stronger layers. The aging process in human beings and animals and even trees or any living thing starts where growth stops.

Our pots and pans do not grow, but with the influence of the growing process around them, they also experience the aging process. This infinite God-given growth in life cannot be hindered by human beings. God has a plan for all living things whether or not it has a soul. Does this mean then that there is no death? I am inclined to define death as a change in life.

A leaf falls to the ground, decays, and forms the richest soil of all, humus. For decay to take place, life must be present at all times. The humus thus formed is also full of life: Life which supports strong, rich, growing plants and vegetables.

It is said that we cannot see death, only feel it. Life is not always full of vigor for all of us. From experience, I have learnt that in order to gain one must lose. In gambling, one must risk money or chances before even conceiving of winning.

Life is death and death is life.

*Excerpt from Watson, B. V. (1982).

Victory: Making It Through Difficult Times. Trilogy Christian Publishing.

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