Maggie

Several weeks ago, my siblings and I assembled at our baby sister’s side, knowing her fight with terminal cancer was about to end. Maggie’s goal while in the hospital was to be at home for her remaining days, which she accomplished. The week we spent together was excellent therapy for the totally dysfunctional family we’ve always been. My brother and I returned home knowing we would never see her again in this life, fully well knowing, and expecting, she could depart this life before we deplaned in Texas and California. As I said, that was weeks ago and she surpassed all expected goals we had set for her in our minds. Maggie managed to get out of the house to enjoy the wonders of her great God a couple of times, to be surrounded by and enjoy His creation, if only in her back yard. She insisted on attending a worship service at her congregation one more time and her faithful husband, Brian, saw to it that that happened. My elder sister answered the call last Saturday to be with Maggie in her last hours, as she had promised to do, also becoming a surrogate of sorrow for my brother and me. She passed away in her sleep on last Lord’s Day morning before sunrise. Maggie led a quiet life, but in many ways, she proved repeatedly that anything is possible and everything is worth trying. I don’t think as her siblings we fully understood how loved she and her husband were until her departure from this life. Those whom she left behind paid tribute to her life by the hundreds, as reported via email by our surrogate. The funeral director stopped counting signature book lines at 450, which would most likely put the count of people well over 1000, paying their respects to her family. Her funeral did not go off without a hitch, with stuck doors at the church building harboring their entrance and some unexpected road construction causing a detour on the way to the cemetery. As our surrogate reported, Maggie wasn’t leaving without a lasting impression, the unexpected happenstances injecting a little humor in the solemn proceedings. She is now at rest.
My sister, Carrie, for the past ten years, has been a blessing to the family. She was involved in our parent’s lives when it was hard to be involved. Even in death she was the one willing to tie up all the lose ends without complaint or expectant reward. I think all sibling pods have a “mother image” in one soul and Carrie is ours. I can’t thank her enough, nor would I know how, for exhibiting her unselfish love even when it hurt. She expressed in one email, “I guess this is the only time I don’t understand the Lord. Why would He have her lay there in the shape she is in?” Maybe one day I’ll have a better answer to that question, but for now, all I can feel is that it is for my benefit, to remind me how precious and how short life really is and that every minute counts. Thanks, sis, for being our pillar of strength. I pray for relief on your weary mind and soul.
[James 4: 13-17] James teaches we need to be very careful when we plan for tomorrow for we have no idea what tomorrow may bring. Is it wrong to plan? Not at all. In fact, it would be foolish for one not to plan, simply because we know life isn’t always a bed of roses. Moreover, there’s nothing wrong in planning a comfortable future. However, don’t leave the Lord out of your plans. The day will come, as a thief in the night to steal away all you had planned, leaving you with nothing. Personally, I want the Lord with me when I spend my last breathe. I want to go with Him to my paradise home.