strength beyond their own

i'll lend you for a little time

a child of mine, god said

for you to love her while she lives

and mourn for when she's dead

it may be six or seven years,

or twenty two or three

but will you, 'til i call her back,

take care of her for me?

she'll bring her charms to gladden you,

and shall her stay be brief

you'll have her lovely memories

as solace for your grief

i cannot promise she will stay

as all from earth return

but there are lessons taught down there

i want this child too learn

i've looked the wide world over

in my search for teachers true

and from the throngs that crowd lifes lane

i have selected you

now will you give her all your love

and not think the labour vain

nor hate me when i come to call

to take her back again

i fancied that i heard them say

'dear lord thy will be done'

for all the joy thy child shall bring

the risk of grief we'll run

we'll shelter her with tenderness

we'll love her while we may

and for the happiness we've known

forever grateful stay

but should the angels call for her

much sooner than we've planned

we'll brave the bitter grief that comes

and try to understand

i got one of those calls tonight that no one wants. i've been a funeral director for 10 years now, but nothing prepares you for the moment that a friend calls upon you for help because someone has passed away. even less when that someone is their child, who is still a baby. 

my sweet friends from church lost their 9 week old baby girl this week to sids (sudden infant death syndrome), she went down for her nap and never woke. she slipped from this life to the next, back to the arms of her heavenly father. it breaks my heart to know of the pain they are feeling, but as i sat with them and helped them, answered their questions and helped them through the funeral process, i felt peace. they spoke so bravely and with a sure knowledge that their family is eternal. that their sweet girl will be back in their arms one day. i know they have truly "cast their burdens upon the lord" and feel peace in their hearts, along with the anguish. they have truly been blessed through prayer, with strength beyond their own.

how grateful i am for the sealing power of the temple. to know that my family is also eternal... and to know that i will be with them after this life and throughout the eternities. 

"sweet is the peace the gospel brings"

remember

remember
-christina rosetti

remember me when i am gone away,
gone far away into the silent land
when you can no more hold me by the hand
nor i half turn to go, yet turning stay.
remember me when no more day by day
you tell me of our future that you planned:
only remember me; you understand
it will be too late to counsel then or pray.
yet if you should forget me for a while
and afterwards remember, do not grieve:
for if the darkness and corruption leave
a vestige of the thoughts that i once had,
better by far you should forget and smile
than that you should remember and be sad



i hear funeral poems day in and day out and i am so sick of some of them, but i have never heard this one, my favourite on a funeral. i just love those final lines, "better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad"
mark my words, that is what i would want
but it won't be for a long time yet!!!

if one day...

i remember reading this little poem as an email that someone sent me a few years ago...

and thinking how lovely it was

if one day you feel like crying… call me.

i cannot promise to make you laugh... but i can cry with you
if one day you want to run away... don’t be afraid to call me.

i don’t promise to ask you to stop... but i can run with you.

if one day you don’t want to listen to anybody...

call me and i promise to be very quiet.

that's all

just wanted to share it...

that's the kind of friends i want in my life;

and the kind of friend i want to be

:)