THE WHITE LIGHT

My dad had told the story all my life. He was working the farm back in the early 50’s. A plow point had broken, and while repairing it, the tool slipped and went UNDER his kneecap. Being the hard working sort that he was, he elected to borrow a needle and thread from mom, sew it up, and return to work. Yes, that’s how tough my folks were! A week or so later, he became deathly ill from what later tested out to be tetanus.

Still working he became so ill he just HAD to lay down a moment. He chose the coolness inside an old tobacco barn close by. His words, “I suddenly stopped hurting, and felt myself hovering over my body, being drawn to a white light that can only be described as LOVE. I have never felt such peace in my life! Then a barn swallow fluttered in my face and I was instantly back in my body and HURTING again.” He managed to hobble home, was taken to the emergency room and treated for tetanus. This, incidentally, was before I was conceived, so I always told pop he had important work to do!

I had always assumed the whole family knew this story, but several years after my dad passed, my Uncle Jimmy had a heart attack and I went to visit him. He said he almost died, but was comfortable with that and ready at any time. I asked him if he knew my dad’s story of an after death experience, and he did NOT! After hearing it, he told ME a story about my grandmother having the same experience during childbirth back in the 20’s. She was pronounced dead and covered in a sheet. She later described looking down on the room, watching everyone rush around, trying to save her. Then looking up at a bright white light..and GOD whispered in her ear that she had more children to bring into the world. She instantly was back in her body and kicking that sheet OFF!

The next day I visited my brother, Bob, who had heard NEITHER of these stories before. Upon hearing them he told me our oldest brother, Carroll, incredibly, had the very same experience in the hospital days before passing from emphysema. He expressed the greatest sense of peace ever while moving toward a bright light, but was resuscitated by the ICU staff and returning to pain and labored breathing. He complained bitterly to them and immediately signed a DNR form.

Is there a great meaning in having three immediate family members experience the peace of death, but live again to tell about it? I certainly think so. The commonality of such peace and love upon passing makes ME strive to eschew things that KEEP me from that feeling in life, and to embrace all the people, activities, work and things that produce that feeling in life. It is my prayer that everyone reading this will experience a taste of that peace, and make future decisions accordingly.