Near and Dear to Our Hearts, Young Man

You’re near and dear to our hearts, young man,
You’ve changed our lives forever,

Wait with God as we finish our race,
We will love you for ever and ever.

***

As the minutes give way to hours and the hours to days, change happens. It’s inevitable. We were somewhat impatient to meet our little man. Now we wish we could go back to a time when he was safe, alive and growing in his mother’s womb. Time is accountable only to God, and time is so truthful, faithful and reliable; much too truthful, faithful and reliable for our liking at times.

We have held our little boy for the last time. We will see him in his casket tomorrow and say our final goodbyes. We know he is with Jesus, but what we would give to see some life in his tiny tent is a priceless question.

He is near and dear to our hearts and always will be.

If my wife’s heart wasn’t broken by the struggles of the past four months, her heart is broken now. Yet her endurance still captivates me. Every move proves physically painful, yet she is still driven to make our little boy’s funeral a perfect tribute. It breaks my heart to hear her anguished caterwaul.

The week has been etched in every sense of reality, yet as I look back I wonder if I experienced what I did. It seems a little too real. Still, we are in the midst of it right now!

We travel this journey with a large extended family that has been there for us; such support we have received. But everyone has been shaken by this experience. Yet we are all so fortunate to be touched by such a special experience of life; that which involves life’s opposite number: death.

One of our favourite songs will play tomorrow: It Is Well With My Soul. It can seem hard to sing such songs when we feel it’s a lie. But it’s a statement we make in faith. Because Christ has regarded my hopeless estate, no matter what happens there is life and hope beyond the fragility of this life.

***

Be there in eternity, our son,
Safe and secure with the Lord,
Be where joy and peace abound,
Be where you’ll be thoroughly adored.

***

Life and death are unparalleled opposites. The living never make too much of life until they are faced with the death of a loved one. Then their mortality comes into view. And can there be any emptier loneliness than the loss of a loved one?

© 2014 S. J. Wickham.