I’ve pondered life and death a lot lately. As we get older, we face the reality of death more often–ironically, it’s part of life. Even tonight, I will go stand beside the casket that will hold a dear, life-long friend of our family. We will shed tears, yet we will rejoice. For our dear brother has shed his body of pain and is now rejoicing in the very presence of His Savior–Hallelujah!
Contemplating death should make us contemplate life. And what of this life? It is really short, isn’t it? When it’s all said and done, 70 years, or 60, or 50, or even 85 years, is not that long. We have but a brief time in history and then we’re gone. And that makes our lives here crucially important…we have one chance, one moment, one lifetime to impact the world.
Perhaps this is why I’m so passionate about speaking to women concerning their families. You have but one life to love your husband, heart soul and mind…one life to create a home where those around you can come for refreshment, encouragement and love…one life to tenderly shape the characters of your children, preparing them as soldiers for Christ as they lead the next generation…one life to write an encouraging note to a friend who is hurting…one life to extend your hand to the poor…one life to paint a picture of Christ’s love.
I ran across this poem I wrote some years ago, and it was such an urgent reminder. I hope you take it to heart!
The Tapestry of Life
“A life is said to start with a breath, and end with a sigh,
But I say a life never dies.
And what despair belongs to the one who has resolved that it is so–
That one’s spirit can be confined to a span of time!
No, I say each new life is part of a tapestry–the strands before it,
Woven with its own new cords, and unfinished still.
A great-grandmother’s shapely fingers find their way back
To stroke the ivory piano keys, youthful and painless,
They play with ease.
The dimple I can barely see in the photo of harsh reality,
(Some relative I don’t know from a life lived long ago,)
Is in my mirror now.
A yellowed letter heaves a long-awaited breath
Each time I open it to catch a glimpse of yesterday,
Words defy death.
One blends into another, seamlessly,
Life into life, tear into tear,
Day into day, and year into year.
And what of this life, yours and mine?
It’s true the time we have to weave is short,
But already I can see the threads–my heart, my passions, my love–
The words still unsaid,
Intertwining on my children’s looms with the tapestry they weave,
What sweet revelation before I leave!
1 comment
Yes, we only have one life in which to do all the things that matter most. You are so right. And yet, countless women have said to me in real life, and in blog world, that it’s because they only have one life that they refuse to accept the role of keeper at home when they are capable of so much more. If only more of us would take to heart the importance of pouring our lives into what matters most. This is a wonderful post and poem.