PrintJOURNAL 67
11 January, 2016
My Darling,
I’ve just returned home from having lunch with D & H. It’s Sunday and guess who the preacher was this morning? I was very nervous because it has been quite a while since I have stood before a congregation. In fact, I asked the musicians to lay hands on me in our prayer time. My legs felt so heavy and weak and I wasn’t sure that I could stand for more than a minute or two.
Yet by the time I had walked to the platform my legs had been strengthened and I was sustained right the way through the service! We explored together some of the principles Jesus taught in the “Parable of “Lostness” – the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost sons.
There are still many people who ask, how am I doing? Their interest seems (and I’m sure is) genuine and, where appropriate, practical. The sense of being supported is very real.
For all that, the deep well of grief seems a long way from ever being emptied. Mind you, I’m not wishing it dry too soon for each time I lower the bucket into the well, I draw up memories of our life shared together which, in turn, generates both gratitude and grief.
I suppose it’s possible to lose one’s balance in these things and to become one who lives in the past. I do not want the location of your ashes to ever become a shrine where your memory is virtually worshipped. Rather, the memorial stones should serve as a reminder of the incredible privilege of sharing your life with another human being.
It just occurred to me that there is a Biblical example of this very principle:
We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:6-7)
We are fast approaching your next birthday. So many strange feelings and observations are emerging as we realise or remember that date. Do you remember how you took a strange kind of satisfaction in “catching up” with me? Even though it was only for 5 months until my next birthday! Hey, the things we remember! Yet they form such a vital and precious part of our network of memories.
The kids are coming for tea tonight and I haven’t finished preparing the vegetables.
Wish you were here
But Until Then
You remain the love of my life
Mike
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