Written July 9, 2012. My dear husband quickly crafted a hand-lettered sign. He outlined one letter on each goldenrod-colored page and taped them together to make a banner that spanned the passageway that led outside. It was a bright, welcoming centerpiece that he displayed with a boyish grin when we brought my mother back from the hospital for what would be the final time. Taped with regular scotch tape, I was sure it would come down within hours due to our Florida summer humidity (nothing I ever try to tape up stays in place). But surprisingly, it not only stayed up hours, but days, and ultimately over the final two weeks. I regularly thought, "We should take that down now..." but never got around to it. As I sat up through what turned out to be a vigil on her final night with us, I looked at the sign with a new perspective. We had moved her bed as a practical matter and it now sat just in front of the lettering. I had no "vision," but just a simple, perfect thought: she will leave what had become a poor, wretched body and walk right under that golden Welcome Home sign. The Lord, through this man, had put up His sign. What we saw on golden paper held up with scotch tape was a celestial sign of pure gold held up with love. What looked to us like a passage fading into the shadows of the wee hours of the morning had a point beyond where Christ waited with outstretched arms. Although her body breathed for some more hours after that, as I look back, I wonder if the Lord gave me a picture of the reality that was transpiring at that moment. I was going to write about it at the time, but sleep overcame me for a while. Although I did not realize it at then, the vigil was over. As she took her final breath and we prayed together, the Lord wept with us. He shared in our feelings of loss and gave us rain and tears that cleanse and heal. Sun and new growth always follow the rain and we continue to live and grow until the day that we also will pass on through. My dear mother completed her journey of 86 years on this earth and has been welcomed home!
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 06:49:33 +0000