Gratitude Day 25: Tenderness

Mighty Little II
Little Pigeon River at Greenbrier, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
© 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved
I am a tender-hearted soul. There's no getting around it, my feelings live very close to the surface and I have only a limited ability to keep them in check. I am not, by nature, an angry person so when my feelings come bubbling up at inconvenient times they usually aren't harmful, they just spill out and make it hard to function for a little while. I wish I had better self-control of these things, but I do not.

Since my mother's death last summer my tender soul has shed a lot of tears, many of them at inopportune moments or in places where I'd rather maintain my composure. This afternoon was one of those times. Earlier today I received a phone call from a member of mortuary staff informing me that mother's crypt plate and vase were now in place. I was pleased to get the news, but knew the time had come for me to go back to the cemetery with holiday flowers for mom and Stephanie. Mom and I often went together to choose flowers for Stephanie. Now the task is mine to do alone. I wandered into the floral department of a local  shop, stood in the middle of rows of holly, poinsettias, and other seasonal flowers, and cried. Tears streaming down my face and no handkerchief to catch them, only the sleeve of my jacket. It's two days before Thanksgiving and I'm already losing it. How am I going to get through all of December?

I chose identical flowers for my mom and my sister, paid the cashier, and fled the store still sniffling. One hard task done. Next week I will take Daddy with me across town and decorate their graves. I will take plenty of hankies with me when I go as there will be a flood of tears. As the thought crossed my mind, it was quickly followed by a reassuring scripture from the New Testament. Christ has opened the sealed book and John is able to see what is to come before the Second Coming. One of the things he sees is people in dressed in white robes serving in the temple. Of these people he proclaims:

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 
Revelation 7: 16-17

I am grateful to know that, while I'm sad now and tears are common, it won't always be this way. The day will come when there will be no more sadness, no more tears, no more separation. God will wipe away all my tears. I look forward to that day!

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