A few days ago I wrote a blog called “Dancing Until the Song is Over.” It recounted my last visit with a dear friend, and I marveled at her commitment to finishing her life with style – in essence dancing until the song ended. Yesterday morning that song ended; however, I rather imagine that this wasn’t really the case at all. Here is how I picture her last moments on earth. As the last notes of this life’s dance were playing, she began to hear another song. In fact, I think she probably began to realize that she had been dancing out on the balcony outside the main ballroom where the band played. As the doors to the room swung open, the clear, full sound of the true dance replaced the muted, soft sounds of her previous song. I am sitting now imagining her walking into the grand ballroom and immediately being partnered in her first dance by Jesus, Himself. Imagine what must have been going through her mind as she looked into His eternal eyes for the first time and saw complete, perfect, never-ending love. I can only guess that this first dance was soon followed by a second dance with her husband of many years who had entered the ballroom almost exactly a year before. The picture of David and Clara waltzing around the room in perfect health and strength is breathtaking, to say the least.
You may think that I have an overly active imagination, or perhaps that I am overstating things a bit. I would counter that I am surely significantly understating the moment. This is the best picture I can draw, but the artist of this portrait is the One who draws sunsets and rainbows. The architect of her celebration is the designer of mountain ranges and oceans; and, while my thoughts are limited to a budget of my ability to understand things, His budget has room for stars and galaxies. In the final book of the Narnia series, CS Lewis tells of the children leaving Narnia through death’s door and entering Aslan’s land. As they travel, they begin to comment that the things that they saw in their world were just shadows and hints at this real world. The muted colors of Narnia were nothing in comparison to the vivid reality of Aslan’s world. That is what we will see one day… life in vivid color! Yesterday was that day for Clara Durgin. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “for now we see through a glass darkly, but then – face to face!”
Do you imagine that God spared any expense in creating the perfect moment for Sister Durgin’s homecoming? I know He didn’t leave out one minute detail. A lifetime of faithfulness was met by an eternity of reward Monday morning. If she could do it again, do you think she’d do it differently? I guarantee you she wouldn’t. Dance on, my dear friend!
Dedicated to Clara Durgin