When life's script doesn't read like I’d write it...
When a mama with a just-turned-two child ponders her doctor's prognosis of terminal...
When a friend's eyes flutter off intermittently and the EEG dictates a new normal...
When dreams of living on the Alaskan terrain become Mid-west reality...
When my child won't lift quivering chin and whispers self condemnation...
When I quietly walk into Ella's room amid hushed voices and see her cold body dressed in royal blue with her husband bent double, his shoulders shaking with grief...
When beloved friends get orders and pack bags and move on...
When a friend gets the call to come home for her mama's memorial...
Then what?
And when life carries on for everyone else while the hurt try to hold on but feel paralyzed instead...
And we who are standing by still have some semblance of wherewithal can be stretcher bearers... you on one side, I'll get the other, a couple more friends, maybe several, maybe a hundred...
And together we'll carry the stretcher. We'll carry our friend all the way to Jesus. And if there's a crowd and we can't get through, we'll get to the roof where we'll remove tiles so that we can boldly lower loved one to Him.
Because when my heart is breaking -- and there isn't a ram in the bushes -- and I can't fix the hurt and I can't edit the story to read differently... And I know how I've heard that His grace is sufficient... And I have to believe that all the times His grace was made tangible and friends carried me to Jesus... that Grace will carry them, too.
"But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went
up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher,
into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus."
~ Luke 5:19
May I highly recommend a book? When I Lay My Isaac Down, by Carol Kent
Linking today with Emily...
*photos of a Rheinland-Pfalz, May 16th, 2012 sunset
Stretcher bearers - yes. The imagery of that speaks to me as a daughter and sister of former paramedics.
ReplyDeletethis is beautiful. breath taking. "And together we'll carry the stretcher. We'll carry our friend all the way to Jesus. And if there's a crowd and we can't get through, we'll get to the roof where we'll remove tiles so that we can boldly lower loved one to Him." - this is what it's all about, isn't it? this humanity we've been given. we've been given the honor and responsibility to see each other home.
ReplyDeleteYour photos and your words are captivating. I love that you referenced the story of the paralytic's friends carrying him to Jesus. It is one of my favorites. The friends had faith and determination. It sounds like you have the same.
ReplyDeletesuch grief-stricken beauty in this, friend. praying for this family that lost, for the incredible heartache of it all...
ReplyDeleteoh my. i've been silenced in awe of the break taking beauty of this post.
ReplyDeletejanelle