We wait. That seems so strange – waiting for a loved one to die. Aunt Frances continues to breathe and her heart continues to beat; she is here, but she is not with us ..
And God’s timing is perfect.
This waiting is not passive. It is a very active waiting.
Family members love on each other. Husband and brother and sisters and cousin talk and remember and laugh and cry, and embrace. Words of affection and caring are whispered in Aunt Frances’ ear. Funny memories spark laughing, wet eyes. Nearly empty tissue boxes sit around, waiting to be replaced with full ones. Church family provides for the needs of their own and the families gathered for the waiting. Next-steps plans and purchases are accomplished. Prayers are boldly murmured. Telephoned queries from near and far away are quietly answered, as the news of her last days gets around. Visits from local friends and relations are made.
Petitions are made earnestly to the Lord for Frances to “fly away”, as her generation and her mother’s might have breathed them.
Active, reflective, earnest – not passive.
Trusting and waiting… On God’s perfect timing for Aunt Frances. Her appointed time. When her frail, illness-ravaged body will be replaced by a healthy new one – her passive, non-responsive face replaced with a glowing, eyes-wide-open, joyful, worshipful one as she traipses down those streets of gold. In the presence of her Lord!
We can only imagine!
And we wait!
Praying for all of you, and, yes, His timing and His processes are perfect. May these moments of waiting continue to assure you that He is in each one of them.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, my friend.
Joan