Well done good and faithful servant

"Death is a lonely visitor. After it visits your home, nothing is ever the same again. There is an empty place at the table; there is an absence in the house. When someone close to you dies, it is an incredibly strange and desolate experience. Something breaks within you then, which will never come together again. Gone is the person whom you loved, whose face and hands and body you knew so well. - from Anam Cara by John O'Donohue
 
On Sunday afternoon, my aunt and uncle celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary at their home in the midst of their children, grandchildren, and one great-grand daughter.  A half-dozen long stemmed red roses, a gift from my uncle, were carefully placed by his wife's side. Despite the celebratory nature of such an event, I cannot help but believe that it was a somewhat subdued affair since ever present in the minds of those celebrants was the knowledge that this would be the last wedding anniversary Margaret and Dale Fields would share together on this earth.

This morning, minutes before eight o'clock, Aunt Margaret fell asleep in the Lord, surrounded by her loved ones, who have faithfully and tirelessly kept vigil at her side since she returned to her home to die mere weeks ago. As she departed from this life into the next, a single tear escaped her eye; a single tear shed like that of her daughter, my cousin Sheri, who passed away nearly twenty-five years ago in the same house after being cared for by her mother, father, and sisters.

Into thy hands O Lord, we commit the spirit of Your servant Margaret, a beautiful woman who served quietly and with joy. May those of us who remain follow her humble example, striving to spread Your peace and goodness in a world desperate for hope. And may she dwell where the light of Your countenance shines.