Lullabies, Fried Chicken and Laughter
Just a couple of days ago I saw a family in grief. It was a memorial service for a 23-year-old son. Tragically killed and desperately loved. It was raw, honest, and beautiful all the way down. True love always is.
I felt noble honor in my heart watching the five remaining siblings stand on stage weeping and clinging to each other. I watched in amazement as Mom and Dad stood on stage to speak about their beloved son. Dignified and immersed in pain but resolutely giving honor to God in gratitude for 23 years. Nobody was in a hurry and my heart kept whispering to my soul, “What a beautiful family this is.”
Everything surrendered to God becomes beautiful.
Lullabies
The great aunt was slated to give words of comfort, but almost as soon as she took the pulpit, she began to sing a lullaby. Her heart on her sleeve, she surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s presence and the room became surrounded with the comfort of God. Like a mother who sings quietly over an unsleeping infant in the middle of the night, the Spirit of God began to draw near to hurting hearts in the room. When scripture affirms that he is the “God of all comfort”, it is more than a poetic thought. On this day it was a great aunt unafraid to be unconventional — resolute to quiet the pain of loss with the nearness of God. I was amazed by this woman. Small by earthly standards, but spiritually? A bold lioness bringing a fresh revelation from heaven into the room.
Fried Chicken and Laughter
After the memorial there was a reception. The real spirit of this tribe began to shine. The fried chicken brought everyone back to the goodness of the present tense. No doubt grief was holding on and the suffering was just below the surface, but there is nothing like the smell of delicious food and the sound of life-giving laughter to reset hope and give death a black eye.
Jesus is always present tense for those who have eyes to see.
The fried chicken and laughter remind us that, even in pain, earth is still good. If fried chicken and laughter are this undeniably good on earth, what must heaven be like?
Heaven
And simply put — that is where the beloved son is. He is merely the first one among them to see Jesus with his eyes. The earthly story is tragic, but that is not the story’s end. The tragedy is the work of an enemy. A spiritual darkness that is waging a war of vengeance. Killing, stealing, and destroying on repeat. But, in eternity Jesus has already won. The reckoning is coming, and the proclamation of scripture is a victorious one. God decrees,
“I am making everything new!”
Until that is completed, we will need God to sing his lullabies to our crushed hearts.
When we lose our way in disappointment and grief. Pause and taste the fried chicken. Quiet yourself and listen to the beautiful symphony of a loved one’s laughter. They are both pointing to hope. Bringing a whisper of joy to the present moment and reminding us all that one day the page will turn.
