SHIRLEY part 3
A DATE WITH YOUR MAKER
We have not seen each other since graduation of our class.
Recall you cheering our team for the winning touchdown pass.
Between the covers of the year book are pictures when in school
From cheerleaders on the football field to swimmers in Olympic pool.
Allow me to send a word or two saying thanks and even some praise;
For your part of the fifties making memorable our school days.
On earth we get just so many days. Only God knows the exact amount.
We estimate the days you have left but God keeps the correct count.
Waiting and counting can be anxious and create many a painful tear.
Each birthday you celebrate was the gift of life one more year.
Soon God will survey His kingdom then say it is time to fill your place.
He will take a long hard look and see the pain written on your face.
God knows you are suffering and a cure is not to be.
With His loving arm around you He will whisper “
Come home to me”With tearful eyes your children wait for that sad and painful day.
Though you are loved dearly their love cannot make you stay.
During life your family loved you. After death they will love you still.
In your family’s heart you have a place no one else can ever fill.
In life and long after death you will have their love.
Perhaps love is the greatest gift given us from our Father above.
Later a child will say “
mom, I need you.” Many tears they will cry.If love could save their mom then you never would have to die.
Eventually we all will face the day God says is our time to depart.
Pray we lived the Good Book so heaven is where our eternity will start.
None of us have a way of knowing how we will cope with that last day.
We can only make peace with God during the time on Earth we stay.
At this juncture I cannot begin to know what you are going through.
I hope you find a bit of comfort in the love & prayers I am sending you.
I pray none of these words written are out of place nor offend.
Words about a serious delicate subject come from the heart of an old high school friend.
If you get any strength and comfort from just one word sent your way;
Then we both feel a bit better having shared time this day.
Since you believe in eternal life you don’t have to pretend.
You know there is a better tomorrow. The road on Earth is not a dead end.
It is easy for us who are healthy to send you flowers and a good thought.
We are not walking in your shoes where the battle for life is fought.
The rest of us can only wonder about the many options you must choose.
In the future we will better understand when God has us take a walk in your shoes.
Just because we have not taken the walk does not mean we do not understand.
I send good thoughts with many a prayer and extend to you a loving hand.
Remember my poem about leaves hanging from every tree?
Think about the blind. God’s beauty they never got to see.
The dictionary does not contain the words I am thinking and trying to convey.
Keep your chin up until you take the final step to where the sun shines every day.
Love from a classmate of 1953
Richard E. Funnell, January 1995
Death is not a dead end but a fork in the road.