Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised. (Psalm 113:2-3 NIV)
As I write this, I’m sitting in the living room of my childhood home, here for a long-weekend visit with my Mom, sisters, and others in the area.
Today, I attended the memorial service for my dad’s cousin and saw several community members and relatives I hadn’t seen in decades. When I first walked into the church, I was greeted by a super-friendly person I simply didn’t recognize. It turned out she was the daughter of the deceased and lives in California.
We ate lunch with a woman who had been two years behind me in high school—now a widow and a nurse who had recently moved back to the area.
And the woman in the wheelchair, attended by a home health aide? She was the mother of a couple of girls I was in 4-H with, “back in the day.” If I remember correctly, she was the one who picked me up after that one week of 4-H camp I attended, when I was desperately homesick and miserable because my mom and dad didn’t come to pick me up.
All of these people had different connections to the community, but when decades go by…..
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day*
Being here is like having different layers of time overlap.
My childhood home has changed very little since I lived here. But when I walked into the house, I realized Mom had cleared all of Dad’s coats from the coat rack (some of which had come to our family). Only hers were left.
I turned around in the garage, half expecting Dad to be there looking for a tool or getting ready to start the mower.
Walking barefoot through the grass in the beautiful October weather reminds me of the freedom of being a child.
And visiting Dad’s grave, among the rows of family headstones, meant remembering his aunts and uncles—and my great-grandparents, who would have loved seeing all the generations of great-great-great-grandchildren coming along.
Past. Present. Future. Overlapping.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
There is a time to be born and a time to die….
God gives and takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord…
During the long drive here, I watched the beautiful pinks, purples, and oranges of a sunset behind the trees in a field. At home, my sunsets are either hidden by the trees around our property or viewed from the beach of the Big Lake.
But this sunset reminded me that no matter where we experience a sunset—or a death, a memory, or a connection with another person—there is gift and grace in that moment.
Every moment is precious in its own way, and every moment is already in the past before we can fully take it in. Our lives become strings of conscious and unconscious memories, connections, impressions, and so much more.
But through all of it, God is present. God is wondrously creative. And God is faithful.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
God,
May we always be mindful of your Presence in every moment.
AMEN.
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV)
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance… (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 NIV)
*”O God Our Help in Ages Past” by Isaac Watts