Another Memorial

It just really puzzles my kids that I can LOVE my job. But, I do, and today I have to tell you about how most of my day was spent. I have to admit that I don't always go into a service expecting to come out blessed. In fact, rarely is that my attitude or expectation! Last week, a lady from our church went in to have knee surgery...so she could hopefully play tennis again at age 80. It ended up that instead of knee surgery they did 10 hours of heart surgery, and then, just a few hours later she died. Her name was Billy and I don't think I ever even met her, but I knew who she was. You never saw her without her husband of 58 years, she was always smiling and usually almost running, she had an electric energy! They first came to my attention when they started working with the youth-that was probably when they were in their early 70s. My first contact with the family was early in the week, and her daughter told me this service would be different than most. Billy had been leaving instructions for the family to follow. It was to be a celebration! Wear HOT pink and bring in a Dixie Land Band. CELEBRATE! THAT is what they did. The family all wore hot pink, and the only Dixie Land band in the state was brought in. It was hard NOT to dance! I put Kaylee in charge of my funeral a long time ago. She knows there better not be any chains or shackles, it may even have to be somewhere other than the church because I want them dancing in the aisles, and celebrating my freedom! After today, I may have to revise a bit and add in some bright colors and wild music! You just learn a lot about people at their services. Billy and Fred have worked many years with Young Life, living to raise money for the annual camp that they believed would make a forever change in many lives. There were lots of young people there. They invested and believed in young people. She chose to collect "friends". Her daughter-in-law said Billy had always called her "daughter-in-love", and she also had always called Billy "mother-in-love". Mmmm, I liked that. There just has to be a better label when you love them like your own flesh and blood. She also said that Billy had never seen them as seeds struggling to take root, but instead had seen them as beautiful, blooming flowers. She saw the end result, not the process. Her favorite sayings were "why not" and "stay loose". She entered a room not saying "Here I am", but instead she said "There YOU are"! She wildly spread the love of Jesus everywhere she went. She left HIS fingerprints on everything she touched. I actually took notes during the service, there was a lot of good stuff to try to take in! It was such a happy time with so many smiles and lots of laughter! Just when I thought we would all leave without any tears at all, the punch line came and hit me in the stomach. Her son told about her being rolled down the hall into surgery and she was waving at everyone, calling the nurses by name and telling them she would be praying for their kids-by name. THAT was the last time they saw her alive on this earth. And when the family was sitting in the waiting room, in shock from being told that she had not made it, Fred's first reaction...he slowly started to clap, and he said "Well done, you have won the race!" Oh, I WANT those responses to be the first off my lips, to LIVE each moment in the reality of eternity. To be living SO close to my Jesus that I see Him before I can even see my own grief. Powerful. And then, the band played on! AMEN!