"For you are our glory and joy..." 1 Thessalonians 2:20
"What makes a successful life anyway?" I remember thinking to myself forlornly as my eldest sister and I arrived to pack up the belongings of our brother who had died.
He'd been an artist, a good one, but his paintings hadn't provided much of a livelihood. Now, in the cramped quarters of his tiny apartment, I saw it wouldn't take Cindy and me long to do our work. There was room for only the bare necessities of living in that place....
It had to be done, this chore, yet handling his personal possessions only added to the melancholy. We worked in silence, and the afternoon wore on...
Then, unexpectedly, the sadness I was feeling turned to a kind of gladness. It had to do with those bare necessities... I think. He lived in simplicity.. without clutter.
On the windowsill, I picked up a slender, silver bud vase....with a pink rose still in it, but faded and dry....then I remembered: Every time I visited there'd been a fresh flower of one kind or another in that vase.
In a low-lying bookcase, I sorted out the small collection of carefully chosen books. Some of them... lovingly inscribed, were written by friends. So many good friends he had... I thought...
And on the bedside table lay his Bible... yes.. that was always there.. along with personal letters he had received over the years from loved ones...
The job done, Cindy and I sat and talked for a while about our brother James, and what the essential qualities of his life had been. You could put them all in one cardboard box, just as you could the bare necessities of any good life: Love of beauty; fidelity to friends and to God; a pure love and caring for all living things...and the more we talked... the more the success of our brother's life filled the room.
As the anniversary of his death approaches, I find myself reflecting back on all of the memories...I'm thankful to God for James, and for good friends like him, who inspire me to love life and live it fully.
No comments:
Post a Comment