it hardly seems that long!

Your spirit and your smile

they shine so bright--

is my calendar wrong?

1989 in November of the year,

you left this life for Better,

yet you don't seem far, but near.

Once you sang with your family

beside my cabin on Washington's Clear Lake,

a Gospel song just for

us kinsfolk's sake?

In a year or two you would sing

no more, oh, no more,

that is, until you stepped

joyfully through the Crystal River

to heaven's shore.

But I think how you might have been active,

even with common tasks most people consider dull.

How you washed and ironed your clothes,

not with a washer either, but by hand

--how slow and tedious that goes!

But you always wanted to look your very best,

and scrubbed out the least dirt particle,

determined to go out to present

Christ the Savior

without spot or wrinkle!

No one knows how you felt when "it" happened--

did you know anything

or was that mercifully prevented?

Perhaps the next thing you knew,

was finding heaven's glories

burst into view.

And your Grandpa Carl

and other loved ones there

greeted you rejoicing

with bouquets of flowers

so profuse and fair!

But it had to be Jesus

who gave you the greatest

of rewards.

"Why give her flowers?"

he could ask them.

"She's MY rose,

the rarest and loveliest

My garden affords."

marks fifty years passed

since Dad and Uncle Art flew

heavenward--should I be downcast?

They all lost this life early,

but gained joy unspeakable:

the Presence of Jesus forever

amidst glories indescribable.

You all know two years ago Mother

graduated to heaven,

followed

by my youngest sibling,

and then my oldest brother.

and my losses are then made a gain

according to His eternal Word.

Just consider the Scriptures

whose promise I can fully claim,

they can raise up a broken spirit

and make it dance

though once lame.