My friend Mary died yesterday. She wasn’t my best friend or even someone I spoke to or saw often. She was a “lady at church”. She hugged me at greeting time on Sunday morning and wrote me an occasional note and a birthday card every year. She read my novel and encouraged me to write some more. She asked me about my trips to learn about American history and told me about being a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. A few times I took her a rose with the stems inelegantly wrapped in paper towels and a baggie, and she reacted with such genuine thanks and grace.
I loved Mary, and I will miss her. I will miss her insight and the way she loved the Lord. I will miss her smile when I lead singing and I will miss her hugs. She taught me what a true woman of God looks like. She was gentle and kind and giving. She was thoughtful in a way that I don’t even think of being, and she was a fierce prayer warrior. I’d like to be more like her, and I know that she has changed me with her role model and her love.
Two best things about what happened yesterday:
One: Mary was 97 years old, so she woke up today without the oxygen tank that had kept her company for a while, and she woke up with a new and not wearing-out body. She awoke to see Jesus’ face and (I hope) had brunch with her husband and other loved ones.
Two: Mary has now become a member of the cloud of witnesses that Hebrews 14:1 talks about. Based on that verse, I picture her (once she gets settled in the mansion He prepared for her), doing what she does best, praying for those she loves. Maybe she’ll meet my mom and they’ll introduce themselves. She’ll also run into a mutual friend of ours, Lula, and if that happens, I’ll bet the three of them will shake their heads about the ways that I screw up and at the worry that draws me downward instead of up. Hopefully they will also sometimes have reason to rejoice when I do something right.
So, to my friend Mary I say goodbye, but only for a little while. I also say thank you – You ran “with perseverance the race marked out for [you], fixed [your] eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 14:1-2) Way to go, Mary!
