Precious Lives

At day-close in November
Thomas Hardy

The ten hours’ light is abating,
And a late bird wings across,       
Where the pines, like waltzers waiting,
Give their black heads a toss.

Beech leaves, that yellow the noontime,
Float past like specks in the eye;
I set every tree in my June time,
And now they obscure the sky.

And the children who ramble through here
Conceive that there never has been
A time when no tall trees grew here,
That none will in time be seen.

https://oxfordsong.org/song/at-day-close-in-november

The seasons do not seem so well differentiated now. This November has been stormy and rainy, but not misty.  It has been beautiful though - the various greys of sky and sea highlighting the Autumn colours. And wonderful sunrises of course.  I will see if I can find a Captain B photo of a recent one to head this blog.

I wish I could manage a poem... especially one that reflected both the sadness that belongs to the world, (Janet Frame), but also the certain hope that we are not abandoned to this.

It is hard not to keep thinking of the tragedy that befell four young lads - so young - who were just off for a weekend's camping trip in Wales.

Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson and Hugo Morris were four precious sons, who leave devastated families behind them.  They are a loss to all of us.  They set off, happily, up a steep and winding country road, in very bad weather, to their campsite, but skidded and came off the road at what is apparently just the one point where there were no trees to halt their fall, and ended up upside down in a water-filled ditch. The ditch was unusually full because of the heavy rain, the rain which I assume caused the skid in the first place.

There was a silence from then on. No activity on their phones, no activity in cyberspace, which these days is very alarming.  But of course the parents and friends assumed they had found a remote camping spot which did not link up to the internet. But when they did not return on Monday, they hit the panic button.

And the tragedy was discovered.  We heard first that  their car had been found - we assumed parked - but then we heard the air ambulance had gone up. And so we knew it was a crash. And a very very bad one considering the complete silence that had followed it.

It was as bad as it could be.

I only wish that their parents, and all the bereaved parents in a world system that is so full of tragedies and loss could know, will come to know, what Jesus said and did when he met up with a mother who had lost her son.

Soon afterward he (Jesus) traveled to a city called Naʹin, and his disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him.  As he got near the gate of the city, why look! there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother. Besides, she was a widow. A considerable crowd from the city was also with her. When the Lord caught sight of her, he was moved with pity for her, and he said to her: “Stop weeping.” With that he approached and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. Then he said: “Young man, I say to you, get up!" And the dead man sat up and started to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. - Luke 7:11-15

Jesus gave him back to his mother, here on the earth, alive.

And I hope you will notice what Jesus did NOT say to this bereaved mother.  He did not say: "God wanted another little angel in heaven, so he took your son."  He did not say: "But your son is now happy in heaven."

No. He gave that mother exactly what she wanted, her living son, back in her arms, right here on the earth.  And when he did this, he was showing us what he can and will do for us once he is ruling over the earth as the King of Jehovah's Kingdom.  He will resurrect the dead, and re-unite us with those we have lost.

It will be such a joyful awakening.

The beauty of the world, the sunrise and sunsets for example, always lovely, always different, can provide us with powerful reassurance of Jehovah's love and care for us - as will a close study of the Inspired Scriptures, in their accuracy, their harmony, and their beauty.