Letter from Diane Webb

If there is anyone in school who remembers me, would you read this to them?  If not, will you put it in the OGA Newsletter should that still exist.

My last will and testament to pupils past and present
If you are reading, or hearing this, it means I am no longer with you and perhaps I have followed in my family’s footsteps and died unexpectedly.  Whatever the circumstances, I want you to know what I believe and to reassure you that death is not the end.  Because I believe that, I know that when I die I shall meet up with the family and friends that I have lost during my lifetime.  I cannot therefore be sad and I don’t want you to be sad either.

Death will face every single one (of) you, first that of family or friends, then your own.  However, people are afraid of the thought, don’t talk about it and therefore are not ready to face up to it when the time comes.  You have all been fortunate to have had a Christian education, whether you have accepted the teaching or not.  If you have rejected what you have learnt or don’t know what you really believe, then think for a moment of when you reach the end of your life.  Will you be content to accept that this life is all there is and that there is no heaven?  Most people would love the certainty of knowing that death is just a door, or even a curtain into a better eternal existence.  They could face death as a stage in a journey rather than the terminus.
My message to you therefore is that the Christian promise is true, that this life is just a preliminary to the next.  Accept that and set out to put that belief into practice in the rest of your life here on earth.  The Bible tells the story of how God has offered humans this certainty.  Read it, some parts may be long-winded but some are engrossing.  The more familiar it becomes the easier you’ll find it to absorb for yourself that amazing story and promise behind it and the absolute certainty of it.

At the moment you may feel interested (or even inspired!) but life has downs as well as ups.  The world is very noisy, demanding, immediate and gets in the way of a peaceful inner life.  Try to keep a small space for yourself, a time to remember this eternal dimension to your own life.  Every morning as you wake up, give that day and all its busy-ness to God and every evening as you go to sleep reflect on the day and hand yourself over to God as you sleep.  We all turn to God in a panic when things go wrong.  (If a plane were about to crash all the passengers, atheists included would be praying!)  What we forget is to be grateful when things go well and we are happy.  Get into the habit of saying thank you for love, for friendship, for beauty, for happiness.

Most people in their heart of hearts know what is right and what is wrong but we do not always choose right.  Try to avoid ever deliberately hurting anyone else and if you do so accidentally or in fit of emotion, apologise.  In the same way, if you do things which are wrong in your own life, apologise to God, be aware of the temptation to offend again and ask him for help in resisting that temptation.  In this way you will at least think before you act.
When you have choice to make in your life, ask for help in making it.  Remember prayer is not repeating words automatically but talking to a friend who’ll help you to become the person he wants, for his plans for his world.  Therefore it’s also listening – both to God and to others who can help.

My wish for you all is that you will be seekers after truth, that you will find it for yourself and you will be able to say from the heart that Jesus was the son of God, he did die to save us all and he did overcome death by his Resurrection so that we all have the hope of eternal life.  Remember at all times his promise “I have overcome the world” and “I will be with you to the end of time.”  As for me I have been called home.   

 

God bless you all.  

Diane Webb