That Peaceful Place

One of the best parts of living in the house we live in is enjoying the peace and serenity of our little pond out back and watching all the critters that reside there. Yesterday, after my morning jog - as I get ready for the Race For the Cure 5K, I sat on our patio swing and absolutely reveled in the beautiful day God had given. The pond was smooth as glass, the sun was bright with that early morning crispness that only happens that time of day, and our circus of critters were in full form. I watched rabbits, robins, and muskrats do their wild-thing, totally unaware that a human was watching them. All I could think of was "Thank you God for letting me live another day and see these wonderful parts of your creation."

And yesterday our sweet sister Patty Mehlberg was taken by angels to be with God for eternity. She was a wonderful, sweet-spirited child of God. She'd been Donna's helper in the Toddlers class for the past year, and even though she was in her late sixties and struggling with poor health, she was diligent about serving others and glorifying God. There was nothing "retired" about Patty. Monday night, in the hospital, we prayed with her and I said, "We'll see you tomorrow," and she shook her head "No". I then told her, "Well, if we don't see you tomorrow, you know where we'll see you next then?" And she nodded her head and whispered "Yes." She was ready. We prayed for God to heal her - and He did. No more pain or struggle to make an ailing body work. We will see you later. That's a promise - from us - but more importantly - from our Father.

And this morning, out back, the sun was shining, the rabbits, robins, and muskrats were doing their wild-thing, because that's the way God's creation works. All the billions of people who've lived throughout time, whether Bible characters or heroes of history, all enjoyed crisp beautiful mornings and they came to an end for them. The beautiful mornings continued. "It's appointed unto man to die once and after that the judgment." No one is exempt. One day you'll hear that Mike Root's morning watching has ending, but the rabbits, the robins, and the muskrats will still be doing their wild-thing. And me, I'll be more alive than ever before, like Patty, finally in that perfect piece of real estate. I wonder if there will be a pond with rabbits, robins...