Loss

Well, even today I have to say that our Lord is good and loving and that, as the saying goes, He does in fact have a thousand ways (maybe more) to provide for us that we know nothing about...

Earlier today I ran across today's thought completely by accident (yeah, I know, right? --- one of those God accidents that I'm beginning to recognize more and more frequently) and it is based on a brief essay by Joey Kibble, one of the singers in the gospel/jazz group Take 6, and I think it has a very interesting take on loss (BTW, for those who know Take 6's music, this essay kind of makes the song "Grandma's Hands" ring a little more poignant and deep--take a listen if you have it, and if not, stand by, I'll send it out next week).

Today, in your time with our Heavenly Father, please remember the Zatarain family whose matriarch Guadalupe passed away yesterday afternoon.

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"This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, thus showing yourselves to be my disciples."
John 15:8

When I was a little boy, I used to travel with my family to Huntsville, AL to visit my grandmother. Like any other grandmother, she would have many treats that I looked forward to. Specifically, I looked forward to her peach cobblers. Soon after I arrived at her house, I would find myself playing in her backyard around her three peach trees. When those peach trees would yield their fruit, she would have peach cobbler, peach preserves, frozen peaches and peach nectar, "any and all things" peach.

One summer, as we pulled up into the driveway, I noticed that the peach trees were laden with hundreds of peaches. Concluding that this, again, was another prosperous "year of the peach," I ran inside and asked my grandmother if we would have all the wonderful peach products that we normally have. "No, not this year," was her response. Shocked and amazed, I couldn't understand why there wouldn't be such a harvest as other years, especially since there were so many peaches on the trees. My grandmother explained, "I didn't get the opportunity to prune my trees last year, so all the fruit you see is bitter and under-developed. Don't be fooled by the multitude of peaches you see!"

I really didn't understand the connection between pruning trees and sweet fruit until many years later, when my grandmother died. Death seems to be much more prevalent at this time in my life, as more friends and family are being claimed by it. As many humans do, I asked God why He allowed people to die, notwithstanding my prayers to keep them alive. The answer didn't become clear to me until moments before I was to sing for my grandmother's memorial service. My thoughts were taken back to the solitude of the peach trees in my grandmother's backyard. Under the shade of those trees, I understood that pruning involves the removal of fruit, excess foliage, and quite often, large limbs. Strangely enough, I did remember coming to my grandmother's house and finding the trees cut back so thoroughly, that it seemed they would never grow back again; but it was precisely this process that ensured that nourishment would be focused on the limbs that remained.

God allows certain "branches" of our family trees to be removed as is the natural order of life here on this fallen earth, knowing that those of us that remain will become more fruitful. Many of us are yet bitter and under-developed like those peaches; for some, the fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control--are still missing in our lives, and will likely remain this way until certain circumstances, or people, are gently removed and we grow and assume new roles and responsibilities. God has promised that the righteous will be raised incorruptible when Jesus returns, so we will see our loved ones again. Death might mean that we will surely cry sometimes, but it can also make us sweeter and further develop our character as surely as pruning makes peaches sweet.

Thank you, Grandma, rest easy, and I'll see you in the morning.

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow and grieve as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord: that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
1 Thess. 4:13-17


You've been prayed for today (and some of you are much on my heart and on many hearts and minds today). Funny, another Take 6 reference comes to mind, a paraphrase of a line from one of their songs: "Because of God, we know our death is not a period--just a pause." Hmmm...sounds a lot like Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."

Amen...gotta hang in there 'til morning.