Joy comes in the Mourning

It has been a long season. A joyful season and a mournful season. All jumbled together, but isn’t that just how life is? Just as the days were getting warmer, the tree buds beginning to swell, we lost my Uncle Emil. A tragic accident ended his life all too soon. Normally, my heart leaps with joy as the trees wake up, the ground dries out, ready to be worked. And I still felt this excitement, yet it was and is dulled by my loss. On the day of his funeral, we learned that Alan’s Grandpa had been diagnosed with brain cancer and only had weeks left. Mercifully, he didn’t suffer long and went to be in heaven exactly three weeks after my Uncle. More sorrow, but also wonderful memories of a life well lived and a legacy passed on to all of us.

Soon after my Uncle passed, I found a beautiful wall hanging with a picture of a tree and the verse “It is good to proclaim Your unfailing love in the morning. Your faithfulness in the evening ( Psalm 92:2).” I chose to hang this in our bedroom so that Alan and I could remember to praise the Lord each morning and remember his faithfulness at night. Despite our loss, Our Lord is ever present and we take comfort in that.

So, as we have gone about our usual spring tasks of rototilling, planting, pruning, irrigating, nurturing, and waiting, our joy has been tempered with our mourning. But we remember that joy comes in the morning! We can rejoice in this legacy passed to us by Grandpa John, “Big John”. His strength, his love, his dedication, his work ethic, his goodness. This love of working the land and giving back to our community. And we can remember my Uncle who left a lasting reminder of three crosses on a hill. Uncle Emil—a metal working, kilt-wearing, opera singing, community minded gentle giant. Two lives that will continue to be an inspiration to us as we go about our work, grieving, yet grateful.