I suppose it shouldn't be anything unusual to have someone here one day and gone the next. That is what we've come to expect on this fragile and often strange journey we call life. So this funeral of a lady we'd seen on a weekly basis shouldn't have been anything truly memorable to me, but it was. Miss Mawgaweet... as my little boys called her had been waiting on us for over 20 years at the same place, at the same table, at the same (or most often the same) time of the week. Tuesdays at 11:00AM in the casual lounge. A couple of months ago she told us she'd been diagnosed with lung cancer, and that she was headed straight to the hospital to get it "taken care of" but we were not to worry, she'd be back "shortly"... as spoken in her dignified English accent still strong after her 20 years here in the US as a citizen. But, she wasn't back "shortly"... and we felt a loss at her passing. I am not writing this post as a memorial, although that may be what it seems, I am really writing it to myself... to remember something VERY important to me.
That is that I am only passing through this time on earth, and that this is surely not my home.... and... while I am here, it is important that I SEE the people the LORD allows in my path.
I hadn't realized that this lady had survived the bombings of WWII on her home in England while she was only a 10 year old covering her ears; I didn't know that she loved baseball, or that she loved the beach but was NEVER in the ocean... I did know that she loved red nail polish, we saw her nails done regularly... I did know that lavender was one of her favorite scents because TR and SJ had given her that scent for a Valentine's surprise a couple of years ago. ... and I didn't know that she had no real pastor in her life so a special man who visited her in the nursing home took the time to know about her eternal home and the assurance of that to me and her family.
I am writing this because of a story that man told at this lady's funeral... and I don't want to forget it.
He told Miss Marguerite's family... "it isn't that you go to church or that you've done good things in you life that get you to heaven.... there's nothing like that you can do.... it is that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ." I absolutely concurred! then he told a story...
"we'd just headed home from a mission trip to Russia, and we had a stop over in the Netherlands. One of our group had lost her passport, so we were stalled at the US embassy of that country. The line was 3 block long, winding from side to side... folks waiting to get to the front desk and be on their way. I will never forget the uniformed American soldier who stepped outside and yelled across the crowd..... "anyone who is an American citizen, step to the front of the line".... I looked across the many people... none more or less deserving than my group, but we got to go to the head of the line and our passports allowed us entry into our final destination.... THAT my friends.... is what you have when you have a relationship with the Lord JESUS CHRIST! you have a passport and citizenship in the kingdom of God... your destination is secured."
I loved the analogy... I had to write it down for my memory and for any of you who might read this.....
I'm blessed....
I know where I am going.... and as a dear friend says.... "you are already a member of the family living in the family home, now it is just time to go upstairs"...... I like that!
May the Lord bless you and keep you, may HE make his FACE to SHINE upon you and give you (and me) PEACE! amen
one last time... my friend... and sister waited on me and served me well with the words at her departure.... thanks Missssss Mawgaweeeet.... you blessed us!
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