Pot Bless at the Funeral Home

Tonight, we just got home from a pot bless dinner at the funeral home where Deborah is buried. It was held for a suicide support group. Some members have lost loved ones as long as fifteen years, others as short as five months. This time there were no members there who have lost loved ones to homicide except for the group leader, so that was a bit of a break. It was nice to mingle among familiar faces, some of whom are part of the walking group. Some folks have come from Vancouver, and Burnaby, quiet a distance to make their presence felt. Some are finding joy in going back to church after a long absence from it, others have shared that their sorrow has changed to regret, and their anguish to sorrow after a five year mourning. In any case, we try to learn from one another. We shared individually as well. I found out that we are going to have a follow up meeting about the suicide town hall meeting that we had last fall. It it is the politicians hoping to respond to a multiple page letter that us, suicide survivors have written. Less than a month ago, the police shot a young man in Surrey, who was threatening himself at a local Safeway grocery store. This Sunday, as we stopped for milk after church, the flowers were still present in his memory. Again, mental health responded to in a violent way, causing death of someones loved one.

Today, as we walked the cemetery, I was happy to find some beautiful red roses on Deborah's grave.  The vase is inside the gravestone,(many people don't know this) I pulled it out, and filled it with water. Then I placed the beautiful roses inside it. Some day's I look at Deborah's hair in the envelope that was cut off by the funeral staff prior to her funeral. This grief is very heavy, too heavy. My husband continues to hear her calling out for him. His grief is too heavy, too heavy to bear.

My hope rests entirely in the promise of the ascension. We learned about this in great detail at this past Sunday's sermon. We will have resurrected bodies, and we will ascend to where Jesus is. This is a promise, and His Words are as sound as the Universe itself. We have no fear. He is coming back for us.