Death is nothing at all....I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I and you are you.....whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name; speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone; wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at all the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Let my name be ever the household word it always was. Let it be spoken without effort, without the ghost of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was; there is absolute unbroken continuity. What is death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of your mind just because I am out of your sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well.

HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND (1847 - 1918)

FOOTPRINTS

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking

along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes

from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints

in the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back

at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path

of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened

at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it.

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you,

you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the

most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.

I don't understand that when I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied "My precious, precious child, I love you and would never

leave you.

During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints,

it was then that I carried you."