Home Again

Returning from Mozambique is difficult on many levels. The 6 hour time distance plus the very long plane ride wreak havoc on the body. Finding the right time zone is a challenge. Catching up with work is difficult. And discovering what has happened at home while you were gone can be disconcerting. For us, this year, it meant learning that Bruce's mom had suffered a severe stroke, and was not expected to recover, and then just last Wednesday, she died, and now is living in Heaven.  A lot has happened in a very short time.

This morning my devotions were from Genesis 9:8-17. God put the rainbow in the clouds as the sign of his promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood.  The following poem reminds me that Bruce's mom has entered heaven, and instead of suffering pain and loss, she is enjoying the "light which never shall decay." For that we are thankful. 

A Prayer of Gratitude

The rainbow bending in the sky bedecked with sundry hues

Is like the seat of God on high, and seems to tell these news -

That as thereby he promised to drown the world no more

So by the blood which Christ has shed He will our health restore...

Unto such joys for to attain God grants us all his grace

And send us after worldly pain in Heaven to have a place,

Where we may still enjoy the light which never shall decay

Lord, for this mercy lend us might to see that joyful day.

- Adapted from "Gascoigne's Good Morrow" by George Gascoigne (1542-1577)