A fond farewell

This is one of my parishioners effectively lying in state, prior to her family coming to inter her ashes next to her husband's.

She was a gentle, modest lady and would never have anticipated "lying in state".

I was glad to go the extra mile - personally collecting her ashes from the crematorium, gathering a few remaining parish garden flowers into a posy, ensuring that all her family would be able to be together for this last part of their mum's funeral before road trips, dairy milking obligations, and airline timetables would pull them apart again.

It was a good thing to be with them and to pray with them.

As I entered my office, my phone rang with a mum hesitantly seeking baptism for her baby son.

Truly, it was an Alpha and Omega, beginning and end kind of day. I am blessed.