Today is a day for remembering
our loved ones ...
Leona Elizabeth Sansing Foster
1927-2007
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
My Mom loved her little rock garden. She used to spend hours planning and digging and planting … pulling up tiny weeds and picking up thousands of leaves. I sat looking out upon my mom’s little rock garden a couple of mornings after she took her last breath. As the birds sang and the trees swayed in the gentle breeze I thought about Mom. Come, journey with me through that morning meditation. I call it …
Mom’s Little Rock Garden in Heaven
Mom died … We were expecting it but that makes it no less tragic.
Dad is so strong and we all go on. There is so much grief yet to bear but bear it we must. How blessed are we all that gathered together in her presence – to celebrate a birthday she just barely passed before passing on.
Mom fought so hard all the way to the end. Just like the weeds in her little rock garden, the tiny trials came and she banished them all … until she couldn’t anymore.
Now the weeds grow wild in her untended garden, free and rampant in their quest to take over … just like the trials that finally overcame her.
I wonder when she saw the light – the one they always talk about – the light that brings peace to the tortured soul. I wonder if she reached out to Jesus as Jesus reached for her.
No looking back, he whispers gently. No looking back, sweet Elizabeth.
I wonder if Jesus took her hand as they danced down the path. I wonder if she wondered or if she just knew … Jesus was leading her to her very own little rock garden in Heaven.
I wonder if she saw her loved ones long gone standing by the path cheering her on … her grandma her dad her mom and her sisters. I wonder … if her anticipation grew as she took each bouncing step for in heaven you bounce with no pain only joy bubbling up with each step you take.
I wonder … if she knew what God had created just for her pleasure in heaven. I wonder … if she knew she was created just for this moment.
I wonder … if Jesus covered her eyes as she wiggled and giggled with glee and opened her eyes to see … her little rock garden in heaven … a garden where no weeds ever grow … only the beautiful sweet flowers just like she loved for it’s always four o’clock in heaven and the blooms never die.
Can you see her sweet face as she smiles up at Jesus and reaches down to touch the welcoming stone?
Can you see her stand up tall and breathe in the peace and the fragrance of love? Can you see her lift up her arms and twirl round and round? Can you see her dance with childlike abandon as her garden fills up with her new dancing partners?
Grace and Mercy – her devoted garden angels flutter and flash at the edge of her garden … twinkling blue eyes and cherry red cheeks. They lift her up and hold her close, sweet Elizabeth … alone she’ll never be for she dwells today and forevermore tucked safely inside the tender heart of God …
©October 3, 2007 Cindy Foster Serio
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