Yesterday Hilary and I drove down to Corsicana to attend the funeral of Lenora Smith. Lenora is my childhood friend Laura's mom. She VERY unexpectedly suffered a stroke last Wednesday and passed away Monday. She was 64.
When Hilary and I got to the church on Friday, the sanctuary was packed so we sat in the balcony. The choir filed in. Because she was a faithful member of the church choir, there were flowers in Lenora's chair. We rose as the family walked in.
Then Pastor Rick welcomed us to the celebration of Lenora's life. Glen, Lenora's husband, had loaned her Bible to Pastor Rick to prepare for the funeral. In her Bible, she had marked the days when her daughters, Laura and Carrie, accepted Christ as their Savior. She marked the days when they were baptized. She marked every sermon that she had heard Rick preach. And he found a note card where she had taken notes from a sermon he had preached in 2010 from Hebrews. It was a sermon about not being afraid to die. And on her notecard, she had written, "It's safe to die." He said that because she knew Jesus, it really was safe for her to die.
The choir stood and sang "Bow the Knee", one of my favorite songs. If you've never heard it, the chorus says:
Bow the knee;
Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee;
Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.
And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King, bow the knee.
Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee;
Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.
And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King, bow the knee.
Pastor Rick stood again and gave Lenora's eulogy. A lot of stories and memories that people had shared throughout the week with him. Lenora was a teacher and counselor for many years. She held 2 Master's degrees. Smart woman! She graduated valedictorian of her high school class and had been married to Glen for 37 years. The phrase that was used so often was that Lenora was "salt of the earth". It was a beautiful tribute to her life.
The choir stood and sang "Written in Red", a song about Christ's love for us being demonstrated on the cross.
Pastor Rick stood again to give his message. He said that death comes in 3 forms: an obscene intruder, a merciful healer, and just because we're human. He said sometimes we don't see it coming. It's such a shock, and our lives get turned upside down in a matter of minutes. It's an obscene intruder. But sometimes we watch people that we love suffer. We pray for healing, but then our prayer changes to "If you're not gonna heal her, take her home." And when death comes, it feels like a relief. Like a merciful healer. And then he said sometimes we just get old. Plain and simple. Our bodies wear out. And he said the only way to not fear death is to know Jesus Christ as your Savior. To know where you'll spend eternity.
Then he said that he doesn't know why things like this happen. He said that people say dumb things at funerals, trying to be helpful. Things like... "Well God just needed her with Him more than you need her." He said that's the most ridiculous thing in the world. The truth is we don't know why this happens. But he does know what, so what, and what now. He said the "what" is that Lenora has passed away. "So what"... So she's in Heaven with her King. She's seeing and hearing fully for the first time. She'll never know pain again. She is truly healed. And now what. He said now you go on living the rest of the life that God has for you to live. None of us knows when our time will come. But you get up every morning and you keep living. He told the teachers to keep going to school and making a difference like Lenora did. He told the counselors to keep counseling the kids who will listen. He told Laura and Carrie to love their babies the way that Lenora loved them. Show them the kind of mom she was.
As a congregation we sang "Just a Closer Walk with Thee". I love that hymn. Then we sat.
Pastor Rick got up one last time to close us in prayer. But before he prayed, he spoke from the heart. While choking up a little, he looked at Glen and he said, "Glen, you've done well. I want you to know that. No one gives you a book on how to handle your wife being taken from you so unexpectedly. You wrestled with it. You struggled with it. You prayed, and you did well." He told Laura and Carrie that they had been so strong. They did well. He said Lenora would be proud of the way they took care of her and handled themselves.
He also said that it seems like God's been taking the good ones from their community lately. He even said he wished he could see the list of who God plans to take because he has his own list of a few people he'd like to send on ahead if he could. :) We all laughed through our tears. But those few moments of affirmation to the family were the most precious moments, and it chokes me up even as I type now.
Then he prayed. And he said, "God, we've done all we can do here. We've celebrated Lenora's life. We've opened your Word. We've worshiped you. Now we leave the rest up to You. You have to give us the strength to get through each day." It was a sweet honest prayer.
Then we were dismissed a row at a time to speak with the family. I hugged Laura and Carrie and spoke to Glen. Then Hilary and I went home.
The thing that struck me, maybe the most, about Lenora's life is that Laura is SO much like her mom. Laura is, without question, one of the nicest people I remember growing up with. Laura was a cheerleader, a smart girl, so pretty, so popular... but she's one of those girls who didn't read her own press, so to speak. She was so unaffected by the way every one saw her. She's down to earth... salt of the earth. Clearly she didn't know she was a lot more popular than me because she laughed at all of my jokes and would let me sit with her at lunch. :) (A stressful time in high school, ya know. Lunch. Where to sit? Who to sit with? Will someone save me a seat?)
We've talked several times in the last couple of years about having dinner together sometime. She lives about 20 minutes from me now. Life happens and things get in the way, and we never made it to dinner. But I loved seeing her yesterday, even if it was just for a few seconds. And I'm glad I went down there to stand with her as her friend. She's a good friend and a great person with an amazing family.
And she has a wonderful mom.
