Lily called to tell me Earth Day went well at her school. She’d done her part to make it successful. Grateful our children and Grands care about the earth, the air we breathe, what we swallow.
From my perch the earth greens. Almost feels like I’m a kid again, watching a Moody Science Film, flowers unfolding through the magic of time-lapse photography. Forsythia, willows, azaleas yawn and stretch after sleeping through winter, awakening to color awhile.
God’s artists at play.
In the living room, the lily I bought at Trader Joe’s perfumes the air.
Simple gifts.
Easily missed in the mundane, often lost in the urgent.
Reading Revelation’s finale’s left me thinking about heaven, what God’s got up his sleeve, on his heart.
Recalling Jud’s final hours nudges me to wonder, more than less. Awed rereading Heather’s account of accompanying her Dad in the ambulance from MGH to hospice at Kaplan House. “We were bouncing around in the back of a big metal box with one small window at the rear, when Dad asked, ‘Could you tip the bed up a little so I can see out?’ ”
Jud loved this diverse and wonder-full world, last looks at the Charles River, Boston Harbor. Heather said, “His final living infusions of trust, of loving life were stunning.”
Makes me wonder if God whispered to Jud, somewhere along that route, “You haven’t seen anything, yet!”
Whispered or through eyes of faith, in a nanosecond of glimpsing something or someone on the other shore, maybe Jud felt like Reepicheep in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis.
“This,” said Reepicheep, “is where I go on alone.”
“Then he bade them goodbye, trying to be sad for their sakes; but he was quivering with happiness.”
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Made me tear up Jan. Love your words of heart-felt wisdom.
Blessings.
Jeri
Jan, your notes bless me and stir my thoughts. Thank you for sharing this glimpse of Jud’s final hours with us. I shared this with my husband for the next time he preaches on our heavenly Homegoing.
Amidst the reverent chant and pageantry of our Greek Orthodox burial service for my father, I recall our priest’s comfort. With tremendous assurance he spoke… “as the boat rounds the bend we whisper, saying ‘there he goes, there he goes’; and yet, the saints around the bend are waving their arms with excitement saying, ‘here he comes, here he comes’.”
A transition that I knew would bring great joy to my Dad, much like Reepicheep.
I love that image of Reepicheep quivering with excitement. May that be the experience for each of us when our time approaches to go on to the even grander adventure.
Thanks for you words today!
I’m down in FL sitting with Tim’s Mom following cancer surgery… one of my favorite Chronicles characters is Reepicheep.
He always makes me smile. Thanks for the reminder.
Enjoy the New England spring! I’m sad to miss my CT lilacs. They were almost bursting when I left. But glad to be in FL. God gave me a special treat as I went outside Orlando Regional Medical Center … a hedge of fragrant honeysuckles to make up for lilacs lost. God is good … all the time!
Thanks Jan, I prefer creation stewardship over climate control. You are right, it’s those left behind who grieve even though we know, and perhaps envy, the joy of those who left.
Blessings dear friend, Dale
Aw, Reep–always one of my heroes!
How I love your words and the pictures they draw on my heart. My dear Daddy returned to God a few years back with generations sitting at his bedside. Wife of 67 years, children, and grandchildren. The sadness of the moment was taken over by joy as my father breathed his last breath here and his face lit up with a beautiful smile which had been nonexistent for days prior. “Now we see through a glass dimly, but then face to face.” As one of the grandkids said, “If I didn’t have a faith in Christ before, seeing Grumps’ face would have changed that. “From generation to generation…”
Oh Jan, that is absolutely beautiful! I’m overwhelmed with emotion. Just spoke with a dear friend last night whose dad is so ill, and he is so very afraid of dying. He doesn’t KNOW Jesus…. what a difference knowing Jesus makes. Thank you for sharing this. Love you.