remembering

We've been up to San Francisco and come back again; we spent four beautiful days remembering Grandma. There were picnics and walks and the Golden Gate bridge. And there were cheese platters and beautiful flowers, and family - - of course, family - - sisters drinking coffee together, cousins snuggled up on the couches together, everyone taking turns holding the baby or reading to the kids. We spend four days doing exactly what I think Grandma would have had us doing.

my heart is glad: I truly believe that Grandma is with Jesus. She knew Jesus and enjoyed him on this earth. but now . . . oh yes, now she knows him like she never did on this earth; and now she is unhindered in her enjoyment of him! this is a sweet, fresh, genuine comfort to my soul.

my heart is touched by a lingering sadness: This world is not the way it was meant to be; God - - the designer and maker of our world did not make it this way . . . sin perverted his masterpiece; death is perhaps the most poignant reminder of this. Death reminds my heart to long for the day when Jesus will come back and make everything right.