Two dresses
Within the last month I’ve bought two new summer dresses for very different family occasions.
The first dress is predominately pink, the favourite colour of our beloved daughter-in-law whose funeral was just three weeks ago. We were asked to wear bright colours which is why I bought a dress in her favourite colour. The sun shone and the huge crowd attending the crematorium, many of whom had to remain outside, were indeed festooned in every colour of the rainbow, many with a pink accessory as well. It was a celebration of a life well lived, because she was a vibrant, beautiful and talented woman, who grabbed life with both hands and gave everything she undertook, her very best endeavours, not least her five year battle with cancer.
And the second dress is blue and pink with a touch of neon orange. It sounds garish but is really very silky and sophisticated and it is for a wedding, where I will acquire another daughter-in-law. She too is vibrant, beautiful and talented and will be a stunning bride, just as my other daughter-in-law was six short years ago.
It seems strange to have two momentous family occasions so close in time but with such an enormous gulf between them in emotional terms. And yet, these events are part of the tapestry of life for most of us, although usually they don’t crop up so close together, so I will still have a sense of loss hanging over me as I celebrate with the bride and groom.
In one of my favourite worship songs, it says,
“Blessed be Your name, when the sun’s shining down on me,
When the world’s all as it should be, Blessed be Your name.”
Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
When there’s pain in the offering, blessed be Your name.
You give and take away
Blessed be Your name.”
That is one of the great challenges of the Christian life, that we should accept God gives but also takes away. He doesn’t do it to cause us pain or punish us, but does it because He sees the big picture. There is great peace in knowing that, as St Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 13:12
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
Prayer
Loving Father God, Thank you for Your presence with us in all the stages and events of our lives. Thank You for supporting us in sorrow and grief and also for bringing us times of joy. You not only walk beside us in the difficult times, but carry us when we are too exhausted to continue and bring us to an oasis of Your perfect peace. Grant that we might bless Your holy name in all situations and trust You in the bad times as well as the good. Amen.