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The tragjc lives of Gabby Pitito and Brian Laundrie are over; the waters of death have closed over their final moments of pain and despair, and the headlines will move on to other events. But while their bodies are gone, the two yet live on, for everyone leaves as we have lived, leaving ripples in the sea of life. From birth and before Gabby and Brian left ripples in their family lives, ripples that will go on and on till all memories are washed away on the sands of forgetfulness, but for generations, those ripples of grief, those memories, will spread out touching parents, siblings, cousins, remote relatives, many now unborn whose lives will but faintly touch on the lives of Gabby and Brian.  It may be said, in fact, that their lives will never end. Their ripples of time will go on noticed or unnoticed by family after family, generation after generation, but they will always be there. Every ripple will cause another. Every cause will have an effect; every effect will be a new cause.

The same with all. Our lives will ripple on till the planet crumbles, the kingdom of man becomes history, and there are no more ripples on the pond of existence.

But there is another kingdom, where the Greater Will lives on beyond all time and space, where the poets say, “Time shall be no more, and the morning dawns eternal bright and fair.” In that kingdom there is no pain and despair, and we say “Thy Will be Done On Earth as it is in  Heaven”. When and if we are able we should seek that Kingdom. We should seek to “enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. But the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

I hope and pray that all who read this will seek the narrow gate, the hard way, and happiness.