Timelessness

The memorial service for our 92 year old friend, Berneice, gave me a sense of the mysterious "wholeness" of life.   Berneice was a thoughtful and creative teacher of fourth and fifth graders whose students thrived on warmth and praise.  She went to college for her teaching degree at age 45, finishing at  48 and going on to get advance degrees later.    

Berneice's husband died of a heart attack at 58, her only child died in a car accident at 37, her daughter-in-law died in her late fifties.  Yet this lady maintained a positive attitude toward life and believed that she was greatly blessed.   Her grand-children, Molly and Ryan, were in constant contact with her and made her long life satisfying.  In their twenties, they are in that phase of life which requires intense effort to reach goals, yet these two maintained a close relationship with their grandmother.

At her memorial service, Ryan spoke of the  quality of "timelessness" in  her dealing with others.   Over the years, her personality attracted loyal friends of all ages.   In her last days, she was not alone.   To fracture an old saying, "God could not be everywhere and  so he created" . . . friends like those who were committed to Berneice.