Psalm 90:12 - So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Today I went to Tigers Flowers, Roselawn, and Lakeview Cemeteries. I pulled out my copy of Walt Whitman "When Lylacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and began to re-read. As I slowly strolled the picture of the poem began to come to life in my mind-
Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards;
Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave,
Night and day journeys a coffin.
I could envision the processional that would be the final resting place and the somberness of the occasion. The uncontrollable mourning and sobbing of those who were laying a great leader to rest.
As I walked the winding paths my eyes surveyed the land, and bounced from headstone to headstone, as I read the inscriptions of those who had been gone as of late and those who had been gone long before I took my first breath. I read a paragraph from the poem I would lift my head and look around and read the tombstones. "Mother, Father, Resting in Jesus, I lived as I died..a Christian" were neatly engraved in the marble tombstone that adorned the graves. And as I took in my surroundings I heard the songs of the birds as they sung the melody of nature. It was reminiscent of the line "Sing on! sing on, you gray-brown bird!".
O what shall I hang on the chamber walls?
And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls,
To adorn the burial-house of him I love?
In passing a tomb, I paused momentarily and wondered what tokens of love were hanging or scattered abroad within to remind the loved ones of the love that remained for them here on Earth. Was it photos, artificial flowers, war medals, jewelry - what could it be.
Once I was done reading the poem I just strolled in silence, stopping at the tombstones that bore photos to look into the eyes of one the one who passed on. Wondering what life for them was like. Alot of instances I found spouses who were buried beside one another. In some occasions they died only a few years apart and in others decades and I wondered what life was like for them once their "love" passed away.
Needless to say I spent my 40 minutes at the cemetery - and I must say I was reluctant to even go because I felt uneasy. Nonetheless, I went and I am glad that I did. I was reminded of a statement that my Pastor made - the richest place on Earth is the cemetery because many people die without reaching their potential. As that thought echoed in me I asked the Lord to show me how to make the most of the time I have left so that when I die I will not be remembered just as a loving wife and mother. I want to be remembered as one who led the lost to Christ, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, prayed for the sick, and remembered the forgotten. So as I walked out of the cemetery my earnest prayer was "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
No comments:
Post a Comment