at Penny's* parting...

Dear God, I'm feeling hurt, and full of pain

it comes in waves that wash right over me,

then disappears, but then comes on again.

It’s like those tidal waves within the sea.

And sometimes in the serendipities

of life, the pain & loss come side by side

with goodness & creative energies,

that seem so contr’y - no place left to hide!

A marriage seems a good model for this,

the “opposites”, are not just “good” & “bad”,

they function best together when they kiss,

acknowledging each other, being glad

of diff'rences and diff’rent vantage points,

because they love the truth, as it displays,

and too, in truth they love. ‘Muscles’ and ‘joints’,

can work together, though in diff’rent ways.

And now I see the quieter other side,

the certainty that we're not here for long.

My longing for Renewed World, I can't hide,

it’s just that all the old is not just “wrong”.

And learning to be grateful when someone,

another person, gets a lovely gift

before me, and to celebrate with fun,

to let the bigger story do it's “shift”.

Ah, then there’s also losses that are mine,

as consequence of her graduation.

Admitting them don't feel quite like sublime,

but here they are, and this is celebration!

---

* Penny Barringham was hit by a car on a road crossing, while walking the dog near a hospital. She died, but was gratefully revived by passing medical people. After more than a week with no vital signs and growing inflammation, her ventilator was turned off at 2pm on Monday 16 July 2018. Her body stopped breathing in the next 5 minutes. She was in the presence of her husband and two sons. She responded to the twin call of loving truth, and of truly loving, that she saw lived out by Jesus, and heard his call to follow, in his company! She was an extraordinary older sister to me, as her husband Neil was an older brother. We (& many, many more) feel our loss of her.