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  • ‘Twixt Time and Eternity

‘Twixt Time and Eternity

September 8, 2012 / Kiersti Giron / faith, family, trust
3

That’s where it feels like we’ve been, these past three weeks of my grandma’s transition from life to death, from earth to heaven. It’s been a bit of a blur, and with the funeral over, all still seems a bit unreal.

During the week at the hospital, and especially the nine days after she came home on hospice, we spent hours by Gomie’s bedside, holding her hand, reading Scripture to her, praying for her, singing her the old hymns she loved, even though the last week or so she barely opened her eyes. I had wondered before why so many old hymns ended with a verse about death. Now, I began to see the helpfulness of it. Perhaps those writers a century or two ago understood the reality of death and how to deal with it better than we do today—and those verses ministered to me, and I hope to Gomie, like never before.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on


When we shall be forever with the Lord,


When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,


Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.


Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,


All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

It somehow makes eternity more real, more near, when you can literally see a loved one hovering on its brink—when countless nurses and visitors comment on her peacefulness, and you know it is because, thanks to Jesus and His cross, it is well with her soul. And the gospel brims with a sweetness you maybe haven’t appreciated so keenly before.

Yesterday marked her funeral and burial. After many tears at the family viewing the night before, the Lord upheld us with amazingly dry eyes and peaceful, even joyful hearts—I wonder how many family cars on the way to a burial ring with as much laughter as ours did? Hearing the soloist sing her requested “Shall We Gather at the River” and lifting our voices together in “How Great Thou Art”…watching the guests send over one hundred multi-colored balloons soaring heavenward in a symbolic release (specified by Gomie) of any bitterness, unforgiveness, etc. the Lord pointed out to individual hearts during the service—so appropriate for a lady known to many as “Bubbles the Clown”…greeting so many beloved friends and family come to show their love and support.

But then we came home, to a family dinner, provided by more faithful friends, but also to Gomie’s empty chair at the end of the table. And my mom, who has been so strong and faithful all these weeks, broke down.

That is the hard part, I think—figuring out how to go forward now, in this new season of grieving and decisions and learning a new pattern, after over eight years of caring for her and ordering our lives around her needs, of living without Gomie. But that same old hymn reminds me:

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake


To guide the future as He has the past.


Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;


All now mysterious shall be bright at last.


Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know


His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

And as the first verse says, “In every change, He faithful will remain.”

3 comments on “‘Twixt Time and Eternity”

  1. LC says:
    September 10, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    You and your family continue to be in my thoughts and prayers Kiersti. <3

    Reply
    • LC says:
      September 10, 2012 at 8:37 pm

      It’s Lora… <3

      Reply
    • Kiersti says:
      September 10, 2012 at 10:48 pm

      Thank you so much, Lora! <3

      Reply

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