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Pastoral
Pondering:
Praise God for life,
love and sharing those
gifts with others |
My whole family was there: my mother, siblings, nephews and nieces, as well
as my husband John, our daughters and their husbands. We had come together to Glen Shee
where my parents spent almost 30 years in their retirement.
The loch, mountains and rocks and even the scent of the air were comfortingly
familiar.
We were home.
From where our family was gathered we could see the end of Drumore Loch,
lapping in gentle waves on the peaty shore. The crags at the base of Mount Blair were a
few hundreds yards to our right; Meall Mhor rose into the clouds on our left. We stood on
a rocky knoll from which the heather-covered ground sloped steeply down toward the loch.
A few black-faced sheep nibbled at the heather and a brace of pheasants
strutted out from the bracken. It was blustery. The air was laden with a blowing mist of
rain. It was a typical Scottish afternoon — a perfect setting for the task we had
gathered to accomplish.
My husband, John, and my sister, Margaret, had helped my mother climb up to
the top of the knoll. I had followed them weeping, clasping a box tightly in my arms. My
sister Isabel climbed in tearful companionship with me.
The box contained my father’s ashes and we had come to scatter his
remains in the place he loved the best. It was a movingly simple ceremony. We sang the
23rd Psalm while my brother John scattered the ashes in the heather from where the wind
lifted them and blew them in a fine dust out over the loch. We stood in silence for a
while, each of us remembering and giving thanks.
Our trip “home” to Scotland was a mixed blessing of laughter and
tears, joy and sorrow, pain and healing. In other words, it was a heart-lifting experience
which strengthened the bonds of family.
Two days before we scattered Dad’s ashes, we had gathered in the church
where John and I were married with my mother’s extended family for the funeral of
William Donaldson, my mother’s only brother. Then the following day we all met
together with additional friends for a reception celebrating the marriages of our
daughters, Eilidh and Sarah to Jeff and Josh.
I am grateful for God’s gift of family and for the bonds which tie us
together. I celebrate the support and encouragement we share, and even the challenges
which we present to one another in the dynamic of familial relationships.
Praise God for life and love and those with whom we share those gifts.
“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in
unity.” Psalm 133 verse 1.
Jane Shaffer is pastor at First United Methodist Church. |
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From Nov. 15,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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