Yesterday (Friday, before we left for the visitation), John said, “whenever I see a sycamore, I am going to think of Mommy.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because a sycamore is so pretty, and so is Mommy.”
The boys were a bit confused about why she was in the coffin if she was in heaven. I got a chance to talk to John and Joseph about that Saturday morning. They were wondering what do our bodies look like in heaven, and really, how can she be up there if she is down here?
I said to them, “Do you remember what a sycamore tree looks like?” They did. “Do you remember the sycamore seeds we saw?” That, too. “Does the sycamore seed look anything like the tree?”
No. So I told them about Jesus talking about the kernel of wheat that goes into the ground and produces a plant. And we talked about how we would rough up the balls of sycamore seeds to loosen them up, throw them into the creek and see how they would wash up on the bank somewhere and start a new tree. We talked a little bit about the stunning part of 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul talks about the resurrection and the resurrection body, where we are analogous to a seed. We put a seed into the ground—the seed has one body, the fruit another.
So I hope that when they know that Melissa’s body was put into the ground, what is perishable will rise up in imperishability.
1 comment:
Aaron,
I am so sorry to hear the news of your wife's death. Unlike so many others I did not have the privilege of knowing her. Listening to you share it is obvious that she was an amzing woman whose heart was filled with love and life in abundance. I lost both of my parents to cancer, so I understand a little bit about what it is like to go through this kind of experience. However, I have not lost my wife, and I cannot imagine how difficult that must be for you and your boys. Your faith is amazing, truly humbling to me, and I thank you for your courage in sharing so deeply and intimately about your experiences. These things take a lot of time to process, and we all need to give you a lot of room to work through it. I pray that you will have that room, and I give thanks for your wonderful community of faith, for your family, and for the amazing woman that your wife was to so many different and diverse people. Most of all, I am thankful that there was nothing left unsaid between the two of you. That is the most amazing testimony about what the two of you shared and is probably the greatest gift that any two people could ever give to each other. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do as the days progress. Keep going.........
Billy Kenney
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