Knowing Ann

Today was a sad day, but a homecoming day. Today we had a funeral for Ann Booker of Emmet Arkansas. She was such a wonderful person to know here on earth and I know she will be a great person to know in heaven. Being a pastor's wife is an adventure. Some times you are judged even before you enter the church. But, that wasn't the case with Ann. The minute I stepped onto the property of Emmet Baptist Church she accepted me as if I had been there all my life. She was a teacher in the local high school, active in the community and in the church. You might say she was the face of the church. She played the piano and held positions in the church and was always there.

But she never made a big deal about her place in the church. She always made me feel I was the most important person in the church, just like she made everyone feel. She was so beautiful and elegant. Always well dressed and manicured, yet she hugged everyone as if they were her own kids. She is a beautiful soul. I miss her already. I know her husband, does, her daughters, sons-in-law, grandsons, granddaughter, brother and sister, and of course her best friend Rosalind do miss her so much.

It is so hard to describe grief. Of all the things you can take a course for, grief really can't be prepared for. You can prepare for a lot of events. You can go to counseling for pre-marriage, after marriage or for anything in between. You can take pre-birth classes, or pre-college classes, or pre-business owner classes, but nothing you take can prepare you for grief. It is the hardest of all emotions. It is like that old song, "Why do the birds go on singing? Why do the seas rush to shore? Don't they know it's the end of the world? It ended when I lost your love." That is what grief is like. Your world is shattered. So why doesn't everything just stop. It just doesn't.

We miss the body of the person we love. We should. We know as believers in Jesus Christ we will see them again, but we miss them in the here and now where we live. Joseph's reaction to his fathers death is just like ours. "Then Joseph fell on his father's face, and wept over him and kissed him." So, it is a part of grief. The missing of the person inside the body we love. May we never lose that. Thanks Ann for being the kind of person who loved not only the soul, but showed that love by hugging the body's that housed them. We love you.