Ten-year-old Joshua |
I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
—Philippians 4:13
KJV
I pushed the dirt
in the deep hole, where it splattered onto Joshua’s urn. “I don’t feel strong,”
I responded.
My sister-in-law
had just told me this—that I was strong—as she knelt beside and helped me cover
Joshua’s urn in the deep, deep hole.
A few minutes
before, no one moved after my husband’s prayer. No one wanted to pick up the
shovel and begin to cover up what was left of Joshua.
Jami had wrapped
the urn in a soft towel, and her dad placed the urn in its resting place. Then,
no one moved.
Wanting to be
closer to my son, I dropped to my knees and used my hands to scoop dirt over
the hole.
Someone said to
me in an anxious voice, “You don’t have to do that. We have a shovel.”
I kept scooping.
“No, I’ll do it.”
After long
moments, I sobbed.
Others above me cried.
With my sister-in-law on one side of
me, my son-in-law dropped down on my other side. He pushed dirt with us. As I
cried harder, he patted my back and moved the dirt onto the remains of our
loved one.
Oh, Lord, the love of family. In Jesus’s
holiness. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment