“Precious in
the sight of the LORD
is the
death of his saints.”
Ps.116:15 (NIV)
One of my closest friends, Martha, called early Sunday
afternoon. She had stayed the night at the nursing home. She received a
telephone call last Monday that her sister was heading into the very last phase
of her life. Sunday’s call to me was to tell me her sister had passed.
I called our mutual friend, Ginny, who is our pastoral
assistant. My purpose was to communicate our friend’s need of prayer. As I
conversed with Ginny, I realized I experienced a quiet joy for our friend’s
sister and yet sadness for my friend and her daughters.
After Hubby and I had lunch, I had a graduation Open House
to go to. The grandson of another close friend graduated from high school on
Saturday. That friend and her family have known and worshipped with Martha for
a long time. I wanted to insure that they received the prayer call about
Martha’s loss.
As I sat in our living room making initial input I reflect
on times when we had suffered a loss of a loved one. When my dad passed on, I
found a poem by John Donne that summed up my feelings. I always remember the
main thought of these lines-We all are impacted by the loss of a life because
our lives intertwine with those we meet as we walk this earth.
'No Man is an Island'
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne
graphic: alighthouse.com