Dead people and flowers...

Ok... so there's this quote by Anne Frank...

"Dead people receive more flowers than living ones

because regret is stronger than gratitude."

                                                  ~ Anne Frank

And it's true, perhaps.  But it rankles.  Because I read it on the day we took mom her Christmas Poinsettias...

at the beautiful Columbarium that she and dad picked out...

And we remembered her, like it was just today that we'd said good-bye...

... and how she loved Christmas and had decorated the house weeks and weeks early, like she knew she might not make it to see the celebration...

And we wept.

The heart cracking open to grieve fresh.  Because the missing was like a living thing... and we longed for her hug and to hear her voice and... we didn't want to be here, in this beautiful place, reaching out to touch the glass wall, remembering the day we took the picture of her smiling for the camera ... sitting quietly amidst the memories, while inside, our spirits wailed with hurt and grief.  And missing.

And yes, Anne Frank, we brought flowers.  Her favorite Christmas flowers.  Soft red poinsettias.  Not out of regret.

I realize that now... not regret, Anne Frank, but for the honoring of her.  Because they were her favorite flower for the Christmas season...

and it connects us somehow.  As she decorated her home during the yuletide with beauty while living, so we "decorate" her memory in death.  With gratitude.  So much gratitude... for how she lived life full of grace and joyful in love.   And how we reaped the blessings of her life...

Those blessings became her legacy for those of us living still.  Yes, the grieving will continue until the day we gather together again on heaven's shores... but for today, for this day, we choose to bring flowers and gather at the place where we can honor her memory...

...with gratitude.  And love.

I know for many there are regrets that weigh heavy.  Words not spoken in time.  Harsh words spoken in haste.

Visits not made, and relationships begging restoration.

We are not immune.  Regrets can haunt.  Especially during this hallowed time of year.  Yet there can be a choosing, an intentional turn towards gratitude.

An opening of our hearts, cracked with grief, to the possibility of Hope beyond the grave...

It is the beauty of this season, marked with Joy, written in Love...

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace."

         ~ Isaiah 9:6

No matter the regrets, or hurts or pain we are journeying through...the Christ-Child Redeemer will be our Mighty God who is strong enough for all our weakness, our Wonderful Counselor in times of fear, the Everlasting Father who holds us when we fall, and the Prince of Peace for our hearts grieved sore.

So, yes...bring flowers!  With Gratitude.  And in so doing, pay honor to the memories of Love and the Blessings received...

Carried by the Grace of Thanksgiving and Remembering this night, Always,

                                                                 Jane