The love story isn't over.
After 59 years and 11 months, after children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, after countless adventures and the quiet wasting years, she is gone.
He was at church today. Sitting alone. He hasn't been there in months. He has spent every Sunday morning at the nursing home with her. Their pew sat empty awaiting a return that simply never happened. Seeing him today sitting by his son was bitter sweet. We were all glad to have him but he was displaced.
Displaced is just the word. He seems lost right now without her. It's no wonder. He was married to her three times as long as he was alive without her.
I have written about him before and I want to tell you today...he loved her to the end.
Or did he?
Is their love at an end? We say "Till death do us part," and they meant it. She took care of him every day till illness stole her mobility. He took care of her every day after that until death stole her away.
Yet is the parting of death an ending, a defeat?
It's finally spring here in Wyoming. Soon hopeful gardeners will be turning over the soil and placing the dried up onion sets into the warming ground. Do you think they cry over those dusty little seeds? No. Each one is planted in firm expectation that the Lord will send sun and rain and cause them to grow.
Soon in firm expectation, we will meet together to remember our sweet sister. And we'll weep. We can't help it. He has already kissed her sweet face and whispered goodbye to her earthly body. He is adrift. He can't help it.
Yet, we know that it is the spring of our world. Soon the greatest Gardener will call us one and all forth from our graves, even as He already called His Son. Soon we will fully understand.
Death in the Lord is not a "goodbye" but a "see you soon".
Not a defeat but a victory.
Not the end of a love story but its greatest culmination.
Helene, I said goodbye to my mum this week, so your post is timely for me in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteMichele,
DeleteI am so very sorry to hear about your mom. May the Lord's resurrection and His promise that we too will rise again be of comfort to you!
Michele, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. My mother has been gone since I was a teenager. But she too passed away right before Mother's Day. It gives the day double meaning. May you know His comfort.
DeleteWhat a lovely love story. Even though we know they will be together again and we will be with our loved ones who know Christ again, death is still heartbreaking. I remember weeping as a young wife when my husband (who was in the Army) would be away for weeks at a time. I knew I would see him again. His absence was not like death, but it brought on great sadness. Even though I'd tell myself, "He'll be back in 2 weeks" the hurt was still there. "Death in the Lord is not goodbye," but it still really sad.
ReplyDeleteIn my own life several people I love are deeply grieving, and Shelia you are one hundred percent right. It's really really sad. I talk about our hope but I am with you; those with hope in Christ still mourn.
DeleteAmen. This is such a precious deep encouragement in the Lord, because we have had several deaths in church these past 6 months; it has been hard in the moment, but I'm so thankful the Lord is giving us eyes of faith, even using this post as a reminder that death in Christ is not death. It's merely going to sleep and waking up to beholding our Savior and Lord Jesus face to face. Thank you so much Helene. I look forward to that day when the faith will be sight; but until then we trust what our Jesus Christ has done, what God has promised, who God is, and the witness of the Holy Spirit in us!
ReplyDeleteI love that metaphor of the Savior's! That in death we merely sleep until we are called awake in that great day of the Lord's coming!
Delete"Death in the Lord is not a "goodbye" but a "see you soon" ~ I love that. I used to fear death but I don't anymore, not now that I have a child in Heaven waiting for me. I lost my son in 2015 - he was just a baby, just five days old, and I didn't get the chance to know him very well here on earth. So I am looking forward to meeting him again in Heaven one day, where we will have eternity to get to know each other. Of course, I'm in no hurry to get to Heaven. I have a husband and ten other children here on earth who make me extremely happy. Life is beautiful, with all it's joys and sadness mixed together.
ReplyDeleteKatrina I am so sorry for the loss of your son but it is a great comfort isn't to know that we will see them "soon."
DeleteSuch a lovely and true testament to death that we sometimes forget in our grief over losing a loved one. Wonderful to read. Thank you for visiting and linking with Sunday Scripture Blessings. :)
ReplyDeletePeabea@Peabea Scribbles
Thanks you for this touching and encouraging post, Helene! "Death in the Lord is not a 'goodbye,' but a 'see you soon'"--those are words to tuck away and bring out during times of grief. Well said.
ReplyDeleteI know that these lessons in sorrow that don't truly belong to me are things I will tuck away and recall when my own sorrows come.
DeleteThis reminds me of something Ann Voskamp said once, something like--"In Christ, nothing is ever really lost." I love that thought and the ones you conveyed here today for those who have "lost" their loved ones.
ReplyDeleteI lost my 1st husband at age 32. I often feel robbed of all the years that we could've shared, but you are correct in saying that it's not goodbye, but see you soon. I am excited for the day that we are reunited, but for now, my work on this earth is not yet done. Thank you for sharing this story, it's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteNicole, I am so sorry for that loss. I am glad you found beauty and comfort in their story!
DeleteHelene, death hurts, but knowing there will be a reunion brings great comfort. Now I have family on both sides of heaven. One day we'll all be together!
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