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Difficult Goodbyes
Wow. I guess summer is over.
Last night as I lay in bed there was only one lonely mournful cricket eeking out the last chirps of the season. The temperature was already in the 50’s heading for the 40’s and as the night wore on he was clearly wearing out. But he was a survivor and even if his thin solemn call was more a heralding of the end than it was the new beginning that is the glory of fall, it was still a beautiful thing.
Life was cycling through. And somehow that little cricket seemed to be saying it was OK – even if it did mean that he wouldn’t be with us much longer.
Working within the church I get to spend a fair amount of time with folks who, for whatever reason, “won’t be with us much longer.” Cancer, Alzheimer’s, brain Tumors, Lou Gehrig’s. There’s a wide variety of things that can get you in the end, and most of them take their time in doing so. Death is a fact of life and the slow onset of it is more likely than most of us realize, or care to think about.
It is an age old question. Would I rather linger so that I have that special time to, “say goodbye” to family and friends and share all those things I’ve always wanted to say? Or would it be better to just “go in the night,” suddenly and out of the blue - relatively painless and assumingly peaceful, albeit with no chance to share that final time together.
Given my inability to actually stop and take the time to tell those I love the most how much they mean to me, I guess I better hope for the former. And if such is the case I pray that I can carry myself as I have witnessed so many of “the greatest generation,” carry themselves as they have slowly said goodbye.
Faith and courage are the words that come to mind as I think of many of these brave souls. Deep and abiding faith – deep and abiding courage – the kind built upon a rock solid foundation of love and labor and loyalty . . . Not the fast cheap promises of a culture that allows anything in the name of serving the self, anything in the name of the “freedom to be me.”
It is rather faith for the long haul – faith that endures.
As I have watched and said my own goodbyes in return, I can only add that as the last cricket of summer slowly fades outside the window, that the hidden mystery that is the paradoxical new beginning of fall always seems to billow the drapes fresh and cool, hinting of an eternal spring of Glory beyond winter’s darker grip. That even as the leaves fall slowly down, that somehow new life lays waiting - like a seed that moments before was just below the surface and is now, in a twinkling, already in full bloom on the other side of time.
May all of your goodbyes become such blessings as you trust the great giver of life.
- Stuart