Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: May 13, 2006
Good Sabbath
May 13, 2006
"To err is human; to forgive, divine." (Alexander Pope)
Fran and I visited our Uncle David a week ago. He is 103 years old, with a mind of clarity and a soft-spoken verbiage. A smile seldom leaves his countenance. He does use a walker, but in mind and spirit needs no aide.
Yesterday we went to the memorial service for Tally, in a totally filled Del Mar Episcopal church, with many priests and hierarchy from the church. We reviewed Tally's life and accomplishments and thought of Lillian's loss. Yet she knew what they had lived, fully and together. Humans pray for things that they hope they can receive, and God looks down and gives what they deserve. There may be injustice in many cases, but what do we, mere humans, know? We feel more than we know.
When mortals pass from mortality, we are supposed to be kind to their memories, speak of them with fondness, and comprehend that our forgiveness must be quick and strong, otherwise what could we expect from God? To forgive is divine and we do not get many chances to act divinely--though more than we may ever appreciate.
Lillian is a woman of valor...
"A woman of valor who can find?
For her price is far above rubies."
This has always been my favorite poem from my Testament. I have known many women of valor beginning with my Mother's Mom, her youngest daughter, my Mom and my wife. The true valor is in learning the true worth of our spouse so that we elevate each other towards God's throne. Tally was elevated by Lillian, even closer to God. He became a leader to those who search for the answer to life's fundamental question: "why?" We can only be sure of our love for another, spoken in quiet truth, and upon that infrastructure, we find a God of kindness.
"Even for the sake of one righteous man the world would have been created and for the sake of one righteous man it will continue." (Talmud)
"In the space of time between birth and death, nothing is predetermined. You can change anything, you can stop a war and even maintain peace if you want to so enough." (Albert Camus)
"A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority." (Henry David Thoreau)
And so God welcomes Tally into immortality and David into more life. When life will end, we cannot know, except that it is always accompanied by loss and memory. It freezes time forever in suspended animation, except for the animation of our souls and minds.
Walk always with your memories as new ones approach your lives,
sandy
