Monday, June 13, 2016

Sacred Days of Life and Death

Some days leave you gasping because they're so unusual and sacred. The hours of the day seem to actually stop briefly. Saturday, two days ago, was like this. In the morning I attended an exquisite shower with 28 guests honoring a sweet mom-to-be, glowing with her baby due in August.  An event sacred with new life.

From there I went to sit by the side of a friend in her late sixties who in days, perhaps hours, is about to cross from earthly to heavenly life. Her precious body was so incredibly ravaged by cancer I wouldn’t have known her if I wasn’t in her home. Alone in the stillness of the room I held her hand and spoke of God’s love for her, the beautiful legacy of family she had co-created and the incredible sights, sounds and wonders awaiting her. Her eyes were closed, but I knew she was listening. An interlude, less than an hour, sacred with changing life.

The evening of this same day Wayne and I celebrated the 70th birthday of a friend with a dinner hosted by her children at Pier 290.  All the more special an event because of where I’d been hours earlier. An event sacred with the joys of family and vibrant with life.

I’ll never forget Saturday, June 11th. Love was present, lavishly and richly expressed in each encounter.

The next day, Sunday, June 12th I heard the story of hate and senseless, premature deaths in Orlando. Love alone has the power to heal this kind of hate. The type of love, streaming from the light of Christ that brightens the darkest places of the soul. As a Christian I must speak of this love and light and not be silent. None of us have been ordered to judge souls, but to love them.

                      Life is a precious gift to be valued as sacred at every stage.


"Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.” 1 Samuel 26::24

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