Dear Mom,
It doesn’t seem possible that a year has already passed since you gained your wings and joined our brothers in God’s beyond. Three-hundred-sixty-five entire days … unreal.
Sometimes, after a difficult day, I still feel the urge to call you just so that you can give me your wise counsel and to hear you say, “One day at a time, Son.” That advice has never seemed more prescient than it does right now.
Other days, I itch to call to share with you the wonderful news that comes with raising a family.
Shelley and I both took new jobs in agencies I think you’d be proud of, picking up the mantle of service you passed on.
Siri got her first car. Ava is in her first “Big Girl” apartment. Carter is starting his senior year of college. And Garrett and Anna, well, we’re only days away from the wedding. And I can’t wait to see all four of them gussied up together for that affair!
You’d be so proud of all of them! Just like you always were.
Us kids are all doing OK, Mom. We’re still hanging tight as siblings, just as you taught us to.
But it’s different, of course, without the spoke to our wheel. It takes more work to keep in touch with each other than it did when we could just call the central news desk (You!). But we’re managing. For now, you just keep tabs on those two brothers and brother-in-law there with you. They were always full of enough shenanigans for a full-time minder anyway.
This has been on my mind this week: As faithful people we celebrate the saints who precede us. But the practice of honoring them doesn’t seem to become real until our closest loved ones become one of those saints.
I presided over another funeral this week, and as I approached the prayer asking God to help us in the “midst of things we cannot understand” and “to believe and trust in the communion of saints,” I struggled to keep my emotions in check.
Nowadays, our traditional Lutheran funeral practice fills me with so much more meaning. Maybe that’s what we call wisdom, things we can only know by living through the experience.
Mom, I know that you’re busy livin’ it up with loved ones long unseen and with all of those new friends there in the beyond, but I hope you don’t mind all the times that I still check in. I find that I need your advice, humility and compassion more than ever these days. All gifts you willingly bestowed on everyone.
Happy “Getting your Wings” anniversary, Mom! We love you more than ever! Amen.
Devlyn Brooks is the interim CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at [email protected].