Happy birthday, Mom!
How are things? I’m not sure how this whole Heaven thing
works…whether you’re actually there right now or in some sort of cosmic waiting room surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before, anticipating the Grand Opening. Paul (the apostle...maybe you’ve already met him) says when
we're absent from the body, we’re present with the Lord. So no matter what, you’re hanging out
with Jesus, and that’s good enough for me.
Things are a little weird where we are, what with this pandemic going on.
I wonder how you would have reacted if you were still here. You probably would've worried. That was your superpower, after all! You would've fretted about
your husband, your kids and their spouses, and your precious grandkids and great-grandkids.
You would've worried about whether they were healthy and safe, and whether they had enough food to eat and enough toilet paper, and if they were all reaching out to Jesus.
But I bet you'd have found peace, too. You would've found
it because you would've done what you wanted all of us to do—reach out to Jesus.
Like that sick woman in the Bible story, you’d have stretched your hand out for the hem of
his robe, but unlike her, you wouldn’t have just let your fingertips brush against the
fabric. No, you would've grabbed it and never let go.
You don’t need to do that anymore, do you? Like Paul (same
one I mentioned before…tell him I said hi) said, you're seeing Jesus face to face.
I can imagine you smiling, your eyes aglow with boundless love. I bet you talk
to Him about us. But you don’t fret. You can see the big picture a bit better
than we can, and even if you can’t, he’s assuring you it will all work out.
It’s good to know you’re there, safe. We who are on this
side of the veil, who see Him through a glass darkly (when we bother to look at
all) find it easy to forget that God’s steadfast love never ceases, his mercies
never come to an end. They are new every morning.
I didn’t make that last part up. Jeremiah (the prophet) said that. But you already knew that.
By the way, how’s he doing?
