Remembrance…

Remembrance is a mark of a thoughtful, grateful man⎯but sometimes it is acute and cutting, as suggested by Shakespeare: “How sharp the point of this remembrance is!” he said. Remembrance is sharp with sorrow for many of us, especially remembrance of those we have loved and lost, especially so in hours of loneliness⎯because of faces that are absent, because of chairs that are empty. But remembrance need not be a futile thing, as the cherished memories of the past soften with the promise of the future⎯the promise and assurance that we may see again the faces of those we love, and know them there as surely as we knew them here. Our days on earth pass quickly. A hundred years from now⎯or fifty⎯much less than that for most of us⎯we shall all have gone where all men go. And remembrance is not so much a matter of wishing to bring them back as to have assurance that where they are, there we may be also. It is no use pretending that we are indifferent to death.⎯Perhaps we can be to death at a distance⎯but we can not be indifferent to death that comes close to us, to us ourselves, or to those we love. Death at a distance is one thing, but death at our very door is quite another. And it is this that lets us know that heaven would be much less than heaven without those we love. No, there can be no indifference when death takes those who mean the most. But remembrance can be gently softened with assurance that He who gave us life and who gave us our loved ones here, can give us life with our loved ones hereafter⎯and will, with our willingness⎯always and forever.