Lately I have been having these time moments. Friday evening was the final push to actually realize what was happening. See all week I have been trying to figure out what I could possibly write about and Friday it finally came to light. Time moments.
In less then a twenty-four hour span this weekend, I have had the following happen: a funeral, a hospital visit, a birth, a death, a wedding, and finding a place to live. My weekend could be a movie. All of these events create time moments.
The funeral was beautiful. A bit of an oxymoron I know...how can a funeral be beautiful. It just simply was. My grandma Dorthy (not my real grandma, but the only name I knew here by) past away. As I sat at her funeral I was blown away by the life this strong, faithful women lived and the legacy she left behind. I discovered the beauty of her love for God and how she geniuenly shared His love with everyone she possibly could. As the funeral proceeded, one thing above all stood out to me, a 64 year marriage of true love. (Yes, when he was asked what day they were married in May, he couldn't remember and just answered "a Spring day". I couldn't help but laugh and see James saying that in 64 years.) But their love, you saw it in her husbands eyes as he sat through the service. He had the same love in his eyes right then as he did in some of their first pictures together. A time moment. See, their marriage took just a moment...their first child just a moment...discovering she had cancer, just a moment. They all add up to a time moment...their life together. Those memories were all moments that in just a blink of eye ended.
When the funeral ended I stopped by the hospital to see my Papa Joe. He has been having strokes all week long and there is nothing that can be done. My Aunt Ann sat there just spending time with her husband. They have been married over 60 years. Aunt Ann married my Papa Joe when she was 17. She has stood by his side since that moment. Unwaveringly. And now she continues to stand by his side, patiently doing whatever she needs to do for him. Cherishing all their time moments together and creating some more while he is in the hospital right now. Watching her strength that afternoon was nothing short of amazing. A time moment that I will never forget and always be challenged by.
Late that afternoon, I left Oakdale and as I drove to Costco to meet James, I spent time with God. Praying over my future, asking for strength and wisdom to be a wife that James needs me to be and praising Him for all that He has done (we just found the perfect place to live after we get married). I thought about the conversation James and I would have as we walked the aisles of savings and bulk items. As we would talk about our life together I would be thinking about the items we would be buying together in just a few months and no doubt he would be contemplating how he could convince me to let him get two frozen yogurts.
And then there it was. A time moment. The very beginning of a time moment. I called my love to see if he had parked yet and from the lack of his presence on the phone, I could tell something was terribly wrong. For the next half hour, we sat in his car, holding hands and crying together. A time moment had occur- the last one we expected. James dear sister, Erin gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. And in the same moment lost her Lucas. As we sat miles away from this tragedy, we could only imagine the loss Erin was experiencing. A time moment.
So how do you process these time moments? The good, the bad, the understood, the confusing. I don't know. I have no idea. I can't begin to process the loss of a baby, losing a spouse, watching a loved one suffer in a hospital bed. They simply are time moments. Time that was just moments, that left a lasting impression on ones life.
In the midst of all my weekend ups and downs, one thing was unfailing in all of these time moments. Love. A constant steady love. I could feel it in the sanctuary as over 100 people came to celebrate and honor the legacy of such a faithful women. I saw it in the face of my great aunt as she sat and watched and adored her husband in the midst of his suffering. And I know it is present in Erin's hospital room. See God's love is unconditional. Those small glimpses of love cannot compare to the experience of God's love. Through every time moment, the pleasantly experienced, the utterly confused- a greater love and hope reside.
There's a tid-bit for you.
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