So I went to a funeral today. And then one of us (let’s call her Biodun from Nigeria) asked with a look of befuddlement, “What is that on Tina’s head?”
And I said, “Funeral scarf.”
Tina (not her real name), is the reason we were at the funeral. She’d lost her daddy.
And when Tina came to say hello to us, she (Biodun) marched towards her, touching the black contraption called a head scarf that unfailingly, at any Ghanaian funeral, you’d see the widow and close family members wearing. Those things are horrific. As if they were designed to depict the utter misery of death and the tedious business of moving on.
A perfect metaphor, if you like.
I don’t know why this, of all things, stood out at this funeral.
You could see Biodun wanted to pull the piece of black haphazard cloth off beautiful Tina’s head.
Someone else said, “I hate funerals.” And I wondered, doesn’t everyone?
They are a necessary occurrence. And it’s not so much us gathering to mourn the dead, it’s us realizing that we have to figure out a way to live without the dead. And then we burst out in tears all over again.
That’s what’s hard about death.
The adjustment process.
Not how deliriously happy the ones we “lost” are. That’s what I think about when heavy thoughts of the D word creep up in unexpected moments. I think of the party they’re having. And think about it, we are going to be part of that party. We’ll just be fashionably late.
We’re just running a few exciting “errands” here for Jesus and then we have the rest of eternity to catch up.
After all, Jesus Himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Because if you believe this, then it’s going to be all right.
Except to shed a few tears every now and then (even Jesus wept), the D word has no power over you.
Stay high on grace, my friend.😌
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HIGH ON GRACE 