As my dad lay in the hospital bed that was sent home with him, I tried not to show the cringe I felt inside at seeing him shrunken, gasping for breath and not able to even turn himself over. I was able to visit only a day and a half before I had to drive back home. We talked about good times. I sat up with him all night, caring for him the best I could. My visit cheered up my dad a bit. It was hard to see him suffer. It was hard to leave him with exhausted family members who I wished I could have relieved, but I lived too far away. And all too soon, I had to drive back to my own family, knowing I would never see him again in this age. The day after I got home, I went to see a lady I had been caring for during the last year. She had fallen and broken her hip recently and was being sent to a physical rehabilitation center in her hometown. She was also suffering from heart failure. She was supposed to have died, the doctors said, in a month or two, but I had cared for her for 10 months. The next morning, at 5 a.m., she died in her sleep. Even when we know death is near, it is still our enemy and it is still not so easy to face. I felt like death was all around me. I told a few friends about what had happened, and I was encouraged knowing they were praying for me. But most of all, I was encouraged by the response and comfort I felt from God as I prayed to Him about these things. But facing death like this has reminded me of what is truly important. The daughter of the lady I cared for had often complained about the messes her mother made in her house. Now she says how much she misses those messes and wishes she could see them again. When Christ returns, will someone's spilled drink matter anymore? Will the times other people were rude to us matter then? Will the pain that a sibling, a friend or even a parent inflicted on us matter? Will we be concerned about rude drivers who cut us off in traffic or harsh bosses? Will such things even be remembered then? Those things will be long forgotten. We will have learned to ask God to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12). When Christ returns, the little hurts, as well as the big hurts, will not matter as much; and knowing this should make it easier for us to let go of them now. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).