Saturday March 5 2016  TIME, OUR TEMPORARY HOME

If my mother were still alive she would turn 98 years old this year.  I remember when she was in her 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s it seemed as if she attended at least one or two funerals every single week.  She lived in Arkansas in an area where she had friends that dated back to her school days.  And she also had a lot of relatives.  During those decades in Arkansas she lived part of them with her mother and some of the funerals were for her mother’s friends as well.  Her mother was actually the last surviving person of her graduating class.  It is a sobering thought to experience the death of so many in your later years.  Either you are attending the funerals of those you knew, or they are experiencing yours.  Dave’s father stopped reading the obituaries in his 90’s, because by then, all his contemporaries had already died.  He lived to 101 years old.

Well, today I went to a funeral.  As far as funerals go, it was mighty fine!  I mean that in all sincerity.  It was a funeral such as I have never attended.  John, the deceased, marched to his own tune.  At times he could  be hard to live with and did not always have the best of manners.  However, seen through the eyes of his son, who was the minister that delivered his eulogy, an entirely different perspective was brought to light.  The son himself, admitted to the adjectives I used above, but also showed his father from the perspective of a child’s love, expressing honor to a father who was always there for him.  And as always, it seemed that I left knowing more about the person from what was said after they died, than I ever knew while they lived.  Funerals are a place of education.  I always learn a lot when I attend a funeral.  And today I learned a whole lot more than I expected to learn.  It was enlightening and it was refreshing.  I walked away understanding that there is so much more to the inner workings of some people than I even imagined.

My cousin was buried yesterday and had no funeral.  Most of her family have moved away from the area where she lived and her mother, my aunt, is in an assisted living facility and cannot get out easily due to her own health.  She is in her mid-eighties.  At a later date there will be a memorial service for my Cousin Cynthia held at the facility where my aunt resides.  Our family is aging and there are but just a handful left here and there around the country.  There are lots of cousins but they are all spread out.  It is my generation that now bids farewell to the cousins of their youth.

And my sister too will be attending a funeral this week.  Her close friend and neighbor for the past 54 years died within the same few days as did my friend’s husband and my cousin.  I wish I could be there in California with my sister as she grieves for the loss of her friend.  Perhaps there would be some comfort I could extend.  I was only acquainted with Ruth through brief encounters but I can still imagine the loss my sister must feel.  It does not matter in old age that your friend is old.  What matters is the person you know deep inside, and it has nothing to do with how many wrinkles are on their face.

In the book, “A GIFT OF A YEAR” I read a sentence that said, “Time isn’t our enemy.  It’s our home.”  Relating to some instances I might agree with that to some extent.  At least, that time is our home WHILE we are here on earth.  The way I really see it, is that this earth is but my temporary home.  I am just passing through a period of time that earth measures on a calendar.   Time is the measurement of how long I live in the confines of earth.  My spirit is eternal, and it will continue to live, even after my time on earth ends.  And it is only then that I will truly be home.  I know I am taking this statement out of context from the book, but just from reading the few pages I have read, I surmise that the author and I are coming from two different perspectives as to what time really means to the person who knows God.  From my point of view “TIME” is like living in a holding pattern, waiting for the landing.  My landing comes when I take my last breath on earth and step into the light of my Savior’s arms.  OH WHAT A “TIME” THAT WILL BE!  And when my “TIME” comes, I think John will be one of those that will greet me for my HOMECOMING right along with my cousin Cynthia.   I fear not when my time on earth is done.  I just hope that I will not leave grieving hearts behind, but rather hearts that are rejoicing because they know that I have come in for my “landing”.  As cantankerous as John could be at times, I know he consecrated his heart to God, and today I stand rejoicing for where he is, not that his time on earth has ended.  John has come in for a “PERFECT LANDING” and I’m just a bit envious that he is already in the Lord’s presence and my run-way has not yet been cleared for landing. 

Time on earth is our friend when we use it to become better acquainted with the God who created us.

TIME, A GIFT OF PURE LOVE

By Kathleen Martens

March 5, 2016

This world is our home

For but a short stay.

It is our training ground

To learn God’s way.

We are born for a reason,

For God has a plan.

He has designed an eternity

For each woman, each man.

Our very days numbered,

Counted in time.

When we walk on earth,

In days confined.

Time has no constraint

For what is to come,

When we cross into eternity

To meet God’s son.

Hours will no longer hold

Us hostage in a world.

Forever we’ll be

Into eternity hurled.

And oh what a day

Of rejoicing it will be,

When we meet Jesus,

Forever more free.

Time isn’t our enemy

But a gift of pure love

To introduce us to God

Who lives in heaven above.

My Prayer of Thanksgiving:

O God, I give you great thanks for giving me a godly mother who taught me Your way.  Thank You for the prayers she prayed for her children, that they would open their hearts to You.  Thank You for opening my heart and accepting you as my Lord and Savior who died on the cross to forgive my sins. 

Thank You too God for being with me each step I take, for giving me comfort when I need comfort and for giving me strength when I need strength.  And most of all, I thank You for loving me first and teaching me to love You, and teaching me to love myself, and showing me how to love others. 

Thank You for all the healings you have done in my life, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  Thank You for abiding in me through Your Holy Spirit so that I am never alone.  Thank You for taking all my cares upon You and that I need never worry about tomorrow.  You are my strength.  You are my deliverer. 

And Thank You God that you have promised Your children in 2^nd Peter 1:11  that we “WILL RECEIVE A RICH WELCOME INTO THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST”.  Thank you Lord for the rich welcome you made possible for John and Cynthia and Ruth.  I thank You that I have Your promise to hold in my heart until the day that I too shall see You face to face.  Amen

Good night and may God bless you richly.  Remember, His promise of eternal salvation is extended to all who just reach out in faith, and receive it.