Remember

                                 

Remember me when I am gone away,

         Gone far away into the silent land;

         When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

         You tell me of our future that you plann'd:

         Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

         And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

         For if the darkness and corruption leave

         A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile 

Than that you should remember and be sad. -Christina Rossetti

 

 

 

 

 

Lifetime

A lifetime is not forever. 

When we're in the midst of living it, maybe it seems as though it will never end.

And I mean that in a good way, not like some things you've experienced that seem as if they will never end.

But life keeps you so busy, in the living of it, that maybe you don't reflect on the fleeting nature of it all. It's more of an ongoing thing is what I guess I'm trying to say.

Which is almost all to the good? 

It's the looking back much later on, I think, that lets us meditate on what we mean when we say "lifetime."

Which is also good, right? 

Speaking strictly for me, when I was a lot younger, I didn't possess the ability to think deeply on such a deep subject.

So here's to life. I'm thankful for the good things, and even the not-so-good things, our coming together, then parting, our gladness, our sorrow.

Our lifetimes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life, I mean. 

Got It

When were preparing for Joyce's funeral service, Billy asked me if she had a favorite passage of Scripture, one he could use as the text of the sermon.

Without hesitation I replied, "Psalm 91." I went on to explain to him how she had often cited this one as her favorite.

I went on to share how we had been reading through Psalms together each evening, discussing the meaning of each and how they applied to ourselves.

And how, a couple of nights before her passing, we had come to the 91st. We read it together, she turned to me and said, "You don't have to explain this one to me, I got it."

Billy led us through the Psalm at the service, verse by verse and concluded with the story I just shared. 

He smiled and said, "She got it."