Love and loss

We attended the saddest funeral I have ever been to today, and in fact I am still teary eyed from it. The woman who died was the wife of the pastor who was at the church when Ornery became a Christian, in about the second grade. She was 80, and the couple had been married for 60 years and were together every one of those days. The thought of him being without his beloved broke my heart. I cried from the time I entered the sanctuary until the minute I walked back out into the lobby. It was almost two hours long, with a grand daughter, both her kids and her husband sharing memories of her life.

Her nickname was Honey--she was that sweet.  While I only saw her a few times, every time I felt like I had an encounter with Jesus as she radiated his love and joy with her whole being. As a pastor's wife, she had a lot of contact with many people, but her son said he couldn't think of a single person in all his life that she was ever angry at or held a grudge against. Her granddaughter said that every letter or phone call ended with Honey saying, "Live for Jesus!"  What a tremendous love for her savior she had and amazing legacy she left.

Her husband shared a bit of the autobiography he began writing about ten years ago.  He said he would have been much further along, but every time he sat down to write, he would wish he was spending time with her, so he would shut down the computer and go in to watch Hallmark movies with her. His pain at her loss was palpable, and he even said he had no idea what he was going to do without her. I told him as I hugged him while he stood at her casket I hoped he finished that story, because love stories like theirs were legendary and needed to be shared.

While we all knew that she is in a much better place, and pain free after living for over 30 years with hepatitis C, it is so sad to think of the ones left behind for whom she was such a rock of faith and caring. He is in our prayers tonight and in the coming days as he tries to figure out what his life will look like without his honey.