One who has journeyed in a strange land

cannot return unchanged. C.S. Lewis

That is a true statement. Sometimes your journey may be to a strange or different land. There is the discovery of different foods, traditions, even the smell in the air. I’ve been to many places. Places I’d never dreamed I would see. I will not forget those places and they play in my mind often.

 

I’ve been on other journeys too. Journeys of grief and loss. I believe because of those journeys, I am different. Changed. This morning I had news a dear friend of mine is experiencing wrenching loss. Her mother has died. She sent a text, “My mom is with Jesus now.” That brings tears, yes. We don’t like to say goodbye. We want them to stay. Yet, what hope she knows where her mother is.

I thought back to my mother’s entrance into heaven nearly ten years ago now. Day by day, she grew more fragile. Bravely, she realized she didn’t want to live alone any longer so she pared her household down to a studio apartment. Sold her car–independence really. And bravely moved forward to a new phase of her life. She was 88 years old. Rose made a new life with new people. She taught a Bible study, sang in the retirement community choir, made new friends. After only a year, she needed to move to the assisted living section of the retirement home.  There she continued her life, teaching a Bible study, though nearly blind from macular degeneration. After several years, even an assisted living home was not enough and she moved to a group home. She lived there only thirteen days.

I vividly remember the last time I was with my mom. When visiting, I often read a sermon from my stepson. The sermon was based on John 14 where Jesus promised his disciples he was preparing a place for them–and that means us–those who believe in him. As I read the sermon, she was affirming the words with an occasional “yes.” Kind of a benediction. I asked her, “Are you looking forward to seeing Dad again? Your mom? Brother? Sisters?” She said she was.

Somehow I knew that would be the last time I’d see her on earth. I hugged her goodbye, filled with my own grief–my husband died suddenly only a few months earlier. I didn’t like seeing her so frail and dependent on others to help her. She was a strong woman in her youth–and mine, unafraid to take on many tasks that I don’t have room to write about here.

Three days later, I received a call from the caregiver. He said, “Your mom isn’t doing well.” I said I’d be right over and immediately drove the twenty-or-so minute drive and found my mother, sitting in her chair, all dressed for the day, but she was gone. Tears streaming down my cheeks, I touched her. She was still warm but I knew she was gone. I knew she was experiencing pure joy. I cried for me, of course. I didn’t want to let her go, but I knew where she was and that I’d see her again one day. Just as my friend Patti, will see her mother, Ruby, again one day.

For those of you who are mourning a loss. It could be a parent. A child. A spouse. A sibling. A dear friend. It could possibly be illness and separation from family you are mourning. This virus is destructive. It is causing fear. It is causing separation from our loved ones. We can’t go to the hospital to be with them. We can’t have a funeral or even a graveside service because of this monster. We mourn this terrible time where it seems we can’t even say goodbye properly.

This passage in the Bible always seems right.

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself’ that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3

On this beautiful sunny Friday morning, may you experience a tiny sliver of hope this virus will be history. That life will return to normal–what is normal anyway?

Perhaps we can take to heart what C.S. Lewis said. It’s worth repeating:

One who has journeyed in a strange land

cannot return unchanged.

May that be true of us……