Alpha and Omega Moments

I have a particularly lasting remembrance of my mother - among many memories of things she did,  sacrifices she made, tasks she took on - but this remembrance of her is just after her death.  I had made it to my parent's home as soon as I could after the call came that she had passed away.  We knew this was coming, she had battled cancer for several years and there was nothing more that could be done.  I made it home before the folks from the funeral home came to pick up her body.  I cried with my sister and my father as we waited.  Caring people from the hospice showed up and began to talk with my father.  I walked back to what had been my old room and came back out into the den where her hospital type bed was placed by hospice.  From that hallway vantage point, I saw a odd but comforting sight.

From the hall, I could see my mother, finally at rest, no longer in pain, her life here was done.  But I could also look on down the hall to the room that had been my sister's and see there on the bed, my three month old great-niece sleeping peacefully.  My sister was keeping her granddaughter that day and thankfully she was sleeping through all of this. 

I stood there and looked at the two of them, both sleeping peacefully, one for a few moments, the other for good.  It brought a sense of peace for me to see the two at the same time.  They both were tired and sleep had overcome them.  They both would wake up refreshed and renewed though in very different places.  To see the end of life on this earth so near to the beginning of life on this earth helped me realize anew that these things come to us all - birth and death; weariness and sleep.  They are a part of life and if we open to it, places where we can sense something of the hand of God. 

There in that moment, I sensed God helping me believe, "It is going to be ok."  Perhaps there is not a more needed message for us to hear in a time of loss than that.  How often does that message come from our mothers?  I had heard it from mine.  Here, it was coming from my heavenly Father. 

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Revelation 22:13).  He enables us to get through the Omega times by reminding us of the Alpha times and that those times are not that far away from each other.  In any of those times, He is not far from us.  God brings nothing to a close (even in death) with out bringing something to life. 

As we celebrate this Mother's Day, I pray, whether your mother is near or far, present in this life or present in the next, you will sense His presence reminding you He is near and letting you know, "It is going to be ok."

for the journey...

Tim