I did not know the deceased; that was not the reason for the emotion. I certainly felt sympathy for my dear professor, but I also felt that the planets had suddenly aligned (so to speak), for my soul read in that letter so much of what I had been feeling for the last five years or more yet couldn't vocalize. Indeed, his letter was the catalyst in my writing down the thoughts that have been swirling around in my mind, slowly taking shape over the last too-many years. The letter was completely unexpected, but completely needed. And now I am completely relieved that I can see with my eyes and read as many times as I like the emotions I've been trying to nail down for so long. And now I stand in awe of a God who orchestrates all things so perfectly--praise be to my Lord!
Those once-elusive thoughts, then, are posted below. They are in the form of a reply letter, which I believe to be quite fitting to the topic. The letter has been adapted somewhat for posting here.
Dear Dr. ----,
How honored C and I felt by receiving your letter, and honored even more that you consider us worthy of your dear mother’s friendship. I am truly sad we never met her, but the love and respect she has engendered in you does emanate, almost tangibly, from the words of your letter. They spoke quite deeply to my own spirit the day I read them, and now I have my own story to pass on to you.
It was, for a change, a slow-paced Saturday, and the weather was just right for a short family stroll through the neighborhood. Having checked the mailbox on the way out, we found the lovely surprise of your letter waiting for us, and I read it aloud to C on our walk.
The timing of its arrival was perfect. On Christmas Day, we had flown to Arkansas for a speedy holiday, spending about three days with C’s family in ---- and about the same with my family in ----. We had come not only to celebrate the holidays with loved ones but also to take possession of a new-to-us (and highly coveted) van. After a week in the Natural and Lone Star States, we loaded up the van and prepared for a drive to California.
My father went with us. We were happy for his company. Anticipating that our then eighteen-month-old would travel like any other toddler, we looked forward to having an extra pair of hands and eyes to ease our three-day journey. L is the only grandchild on my side, so of course Papaw himself was thoroughly excited to be of use spending time with our own little sprite.
My parents are not at all financially well-off, and with C and I becoming less so the longer I stay at home instead of work, the holiday trip was, for me at least, bittersweet—for we are not certain we will see my folks this year, and babies have the tendency to grow up far faster than either parents or grandparents would like.
So THIS—the cycle of life throughout its generations—is what I was left to ponder on our drive through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, and I am still pondering it many weeks later, as I was that Saturday on which I opened your beautiful letter.
On our walk that day, L toddled a step or two ahead, as she is wont to do. As I read aloud from the letter, I could not help but think of the fact that she and I are at the beginning of the mother-child continuum, just as you are at its end. I do wonder what story our end will have, and I pray for the grace to finish well, as your own dear mother has done. The moment was a reminder, too, to be thankful for each day as it comes and to “gird up my loins” in preparation for the more obviously-significant moments in life--which are made dearer by those less so, such as our brief walk on that unassuming Saturday.
I have one grandmother still living. She has, however, been struck by Alzheimer’s disease and is nevertheless living alone in inconsequential ----, Texas, in the very house in which my mother was raised. My parents are her primary caregivers, and being rather passive people who are overworked and underpaid members of blue collar America, growing old themselves, I see them wearing down a bit more each year under the weight of the burden.
I often feel guilty for living so far from home, for not being able to share in the burden, for living a happy life that does not seem to include any of them. It is no exaggeration to say that my daughter and I are a beam of joy in their dim lives, and I try so hard to see how removing that joy for months at a time works for the good of each of them that we’ve left behind.
I do see quite clearly how it has worked for my own good…and that is part of the guilt, I suppose. Why do I get to lead this storybook life, growing through the grace of God each year, when I feel my parents’ lives wilting day by day? I know we’re all responsible for our own actions—that we each must work out our salvation in fear and trembling…but if I weren’t living here in the ---- Valley, I fear I would be much like they are. I wouldn’t know, for example: That the Church can be so much more than a Sunday morning service. That I’m a Calvinist. That multiculturalism actually does exist somewhere. That it really is possible to live in an educated society not limited to a college campus. –Not that Los Angeles County is some sunshiny, magical land (well, sunshiny maybe!), but that God’s irresistible grace has enriched me through my experiences here.
I guess that comes with burdens of its own: I think on past generations and feel heavily the need to speak such grace to them; I ponder future generations and see that the need to speak is just as great. At this stage in life, I am caught in the middle and must strive for balance as I use my resources to care for both.
But I am not selfish enough to think that every person who has ever been my age, and who ever will be, will not go through this as well. That is the mystery: somehow it pleases God to see His children endure and enjoy such things as they come.
And here is one thing from your letter that touched me—you took on a caregiver’s burden, but you didn’t see it as one; you were there for your spritely mama and soaked up her presence, retaining all that is good about her. You’ve been blessed to be with her in the final months.
And I wonder, in my own family (both as a child and a parent), if I will be able to have that same blessing. I think on the slightly morbid, like saving up for airfare to fly home when my grandmother’s end comes; like my mother or father dying in a sudden car wreck or by some other twist of fate; or like my sister and I being taken “before our time,” leaving no one to care for our mom and dad when they themselves have cycled back to a stage of dependence. I wonder, too, if my dear daughter will love me, when my own end comes, in the same way you have shown love to your mother. What’s more, will I allow her to do so? Will my mother and father allow me? And, whether or not they do, will I choose to love them to the far-reaching degree you’ve proven by your own life to be possible?
Yes, I think on these things. They are the “significant possibilities” of my life. Yet at the moment I am typing this letter, I am in contrast living an insignificant reality, curled up on the couch under a blanket, laptop aglow at 2:32 am. But, though my posture says otherwise, it is here in the wee hours of a very ordinary morning that I, again, am girding my loins for the bigger moments.
And I am thankful. For, really, though I wonder and think as I have said I do and have clearly done here, there is one thing I stalwartly resist: I do not worry. For who by worrying can add a single hour to his life?—or to that of any other. No, I do not worry; I simply resolve. I will live in the present, in the ordinary moments, with a thankful heart and a spirit attuned to my true home, longing for the day on which I am made perfect, freed from these burdens of the human condition. I will consider how the lilies grow--and one in particular, speaking grace to her in every moment I can.
And so my story is everyone’s story and no story at all. The cycle of life throughout its generations—it has been around long before me, and it will carry on long after. In my significantly trivial place on that generational spiral, I will shine my own speck of light, a beacon to few, to some, or to no one—but made to shine brighter through unexpected words from a dear friend growing dearer.
Much love,
H.D.
A few more things to add—more examples of how beautifully the Spirit weaves together the unassuming bits of our lives, masterfully orchestrating it all:
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
Philippians 2:12-18
First of all, as I wrote the above letter to my friend, I quoted Scripture in several places, not knowing the references by heart. After writing it, I went back and looked them up. My last post was in December, and it was regarding Philippians 2. I feel I’ve come further as a person since then (though it was not so long ago really), but here God has me meditating within the exact same passage. Let that be a lesson to me! …What’s that verse?...A thousand years are like one day to God? Indeed, my soul is a slow-moving glacier.
Secondly, I love that that Scripture is a Pauline letter! He was writing to a new generation of believers, like a father to a son—or a mother to a daughter—to encourage them in their faith (while in chains, nonetheless!). In the same way (minus the chains), I do hope that my daughter can one day read my meager letter and be encouraged by it as well. As Paul says, not only in his presence but much more in his absence, his beloved children should obey and shine like stars in the world, holding out the word of life. And, likewise, I pray this for my child, that she rejoice in obedience to the Father, whether I am by her side or no. I hope she is encouraged by my words, just as I was encouraged by my friend’s. And there is the new cycle, not life to death, but life unto life as we mine the truths of God’s Word.
It is beautiful, simply beautiful.
Oh how I love my God.
