December 15 – “The girls”

Well, those girls did it.  Chris and seven of her cousins were selected as pall bearers for her Aunt Hope's funeral yesterday.  They all sat together at the church with their carnation boutonnières.  The lady who worked for the funeral home was mystified and amazed that they were seriously going to be the pall bearers.  Really.  These girls were actually going to carry Aunt Hope's casket.  Plenty of guy cousins were prepared to step in and take over, but oh, no.  Aunt Hope wanted the girls.  So the girls she got.  And to a woman they were determined that they were not going to drop Aunt Hope, no matter what terrain they had to scale, no matter what hills or holes lay in their path.  The task would get done.   Originally only six of them were scheduled.  At least there were only six names listed in the handout.  Perhaps the extra two were a nod to their anticipated fragile natures.  Nay.  Not these girls.  I think the extra two just didn't want to get left out on the event of the century.  Why, two of them even took their place in high heels.    The walk from the church to the hearse was not very far, so it didn't seem to be much trouble.  But I was not the only one paying careful attention after we arrived at the cemetery.  The walk was longer.  It involved dropping into a ditch and coming back up out of it.  It meant making at least one turn.  And it meant that final lift at the gravesite to place it on the holders.  But the ladies made their stand.  Away from the car they began.    The walk was not without its "interesting" moments.  The high heels proved difficult, for they tended to sink easily into the ground, and refused to pull out quite as easily.  I thought one would be left behind – one shoe, I mean.  The girl wasn't about to drop out – but a final tug and lift off.  The other key point of difficulty came because there were eight instead of the usual six.  With no military cadence to guide them, the ladies had to avoid stepping on each other's feet.  I heard someone say, "OK.  Left, right." But alas, without the whole entourage stopping and beginning again, the cadence idea was doomed to failure.  So instead, the resourceful ladies solved the problem a different way.  They simply took smaller steps.  Much smaller steps.  Perhaps it took them a bit longer, but they made all the progress they needed.    The final test would be that lift at the end.  But just before they reached the end of the journey, they felt an unexpected lurch.  Puzzled faces turned this way and that as they tried to figure out the source of the mysterious tug.  Had someone given out?  Was there actually going to be a drop?  Oh, no.  Not even close.  It seems that one of the particularly large guy cousins just couldn't stand it any longer.  And with a big grin on his face, he had stepped into place at the rear end of the casket and lifted.  Aunt Hope had arrived.  And her dream of being delivered by her girls was a reality.  And the experience was indeed one that the family will not soon forget.   James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."   Father, thank you for the gift those sweet girls delivered today.  Receive Aunt Hope into your arms.  Amen.