And Life Goes On

I sat at the gravesite of my dad on May 10 and I thought my heart would break.  It seemed a short time ago we were at the same place but only burying my mom.  In two years we watched my dad succumb to heart failure and finally on May 6, he met Jesus face to face and was reunited with mom.

As sad as the day was and as heartbroken as my brother and I were, there in those quiet moments as we listened to TAPS being played by the Navy Honor Guard, I noticed something.  The birds were still singing, the sun was still shining, and life was continuing on.

As the burial ended and people began to disperse, I looked around me.  People were laughing and visiting like it was a family reunion.  In a sense it was.  Many of those people had not seen each other in several years.  Yes, life goes on.

While I was standing there with tears running down my face, my youngest son, who always provides levity in serious situations, came up to me.  He asked, “Do you notice anything wrong with me?”  I didn’t.  His wife then pointed to his shoes-two mismatched black dress shoes!  He snickered, smiled, and stated, “Well, at least I got a left one and a right one.”  I nearly choked on my tears as I laughed a belly laugh. Yes, life goes on.

As we walked toward the cars, I looked in the distance and saw my husband playing with our precious 20 month old grandson.  They were running in the grassy area and Gideon was giggling.  “How fitting,” I thought.  Life goes on.

As a minister’s wife, we know all the answers in our head.  We know the death of a Christian is not really a sad day because that person is with their Lord.  However, we are human beings who are selfish and grieve for our own loss.  Death is a part of life and none of us will escape it.  Thus, life goes on.

So, life goes on.  There will be births, deaths, sickness, weddings, family reunions, etc for generations to come.  God allows us a short time on this earth to do His work.  He calls us to lead others to Him.  When our time is up, He will call us home to live with Him for eternity. 

Yes, life goes on.

Just before we left the gravesite, a dear friend of 52 years came up to me.  He gave me a brotherly hug and opened his jacket to reveal his inside breast pocket.  He said, “Shh, I brought you some Happy Pills aka Peanut M & Ms.”   We both laughed because his parents are with Jesus too and we both know that life goes on.