No, I am not trying to obsess on death....although these past 4 years have revolved around it , it seems, with three major people in our lives, dying...and with those, our expectations of those people, dying as well..
No, as a child growing up, part of our rituals were to visit the graves of family gone before and bring fresh garden flowers, forest greens, wild flowers to various sites..it was expected and kind of restful...when I was a child, I didn't know any of these people. We went on birthdays, holidays...it was never morbid, just part of honoring....They had died before I knew them...as the years went by, I began to know some and recently, I knew them intimately .....
But, I have made other trips to the cemetery,
-to look at old inscriptions
-to take pictures of the forgotten Chinese
-to watch my grandsons put out flags for boy scouts
-to get ideas for designs
-to say goodbyes
-to wander to see history
-to look at the statuary
-to ponder
I drive by one regularly by the route I take to certain places in town....yesterday, the street was filled with cars of those attending a service...I thought about the people there'd, mourning their loved one..honoring one who had departed, maybe "too soon" , may not ...
Empathizing with their family....feeling their pain...
I think of Jesus in the garden!!! I picture it near the cemetery. He went there to pray...quiet times....we see paintings of him kneeling at a rock...no one really knows the scene, just our minds eye thinking that....but oh so serene.....peaceful???with that light shining down....not darkness....
Where I do got for that peaceful atmosphere? Where am I in that state of mind to hand over the daily or moment by moment thoughts? Prayer......quietness, struggles, handing over the reins, heartache, wrong thoughts,pride, fears, anger, oh, so many things.....confession, Listening........waiting....
Thank you for Being, your listening ear, your compassion that never fails, your nearness...yours arms of forgiveness, your eyes of guidance...your patience....your unending desire that we all come to You.....
Mark 1:35
[ Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place ] Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Luke 5:16
But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
John 18:1
[ Jesus Arrested ] When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.
John 19:41
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.
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