END OF THE ROAD

I hope you might find these beautiful words by Christina Rossetti as comforting and reassuring as I do:

 

 

 "Miss Me But Let Me Go" 

 

'When I come to the end of the road

And the sun has set for me

I want no rites in a gloom-filled room.

Why cry for a soul set free?

 

Miss me a little, but not for long

And not with your head bowed low.

Remember the love that once we shared;

Miss me, but let me go.

 

For this is a journey we all must take

And each must go alone.

It's all part of the master plan -

A step on the road to home.

 

When you are lonely and sick at heart

Go to the friends we know.

Laugh at all the things we used to do.

Miss me, but let me go.'

 

GRIEF - A STORMY SEA

Hard to believe, when we first 'lose' a loved one, that they are not lost and that at the right time we'll be reunited. But the grief we feel protects us in a sense, until we can remember without the gnawing pain and can begin to live again.

While living we can be comforted by the knowledge that death will reunite us and that meanwhile there's pleasure to be had - not just in new scenes and old memories but also in our certainty that love doesn't die. It exists for all time. 

WAS IT A DREAM?

 I had a similar experience to this, back when I was 25 soon after my beloved grandmother died.

I vividly remember her asking me reproachfully "Why didn't you recognise me when I came to you this afternoon, while your friend was talking to a clairvoyant?" 

As documented elsewhere on my Facebook page some time ago, I'd accompanied my friend Yvonne when she visited a clairvoyant to clarify some issues she had. After the visit, Yvonne said the visit had helped her but there was one thing that didn't make sense.

She had no recollection of a white-haired woman such as had been described to her - whereas I, listening in as invited, had related 100% to the description but felt it couldn't be meant for me.

It was that same night, as if in a dream, that my 'Nama' came to me with her reproach. She left me in no doubt about her visit - which has reassured me during all the years since.

Have you ever experienced anything like this? 

WHO ELSE BELIEVES THIS?

 There have been a number of times in my life when a white feather has arrived, seemingly straight from the sky. And whenever this has happened I've had cause to give thanks for its timely arrival.

Having caught the feather without any effort, I've studied it in the palm of my hand and felt its effects, sensing that somehow all was well. My worries had mysteriously lifted from me and I knew that I was being protected.

Have you ever experienced this? If you have, I'd love to hear about it!

LOVE THAT TRANSCENDS DEATH

 These are just two of the Amazon reviews given to The Portrait. They might help you decide that this is your kind of story - or not, as the case may be! You can find other - much longer - reviews on Amazon's website.

WITH DEATH BEGINS LIFE

 It's exciting, isn't it, to think that with death life begins again - except in a different dimension? Our human minds are not meant to fully comprehend this concept. With limited vision here on earth, we must simply trust that our sight expands once we enter heaven.

Imagine, then, how free we'll feel after discarding our body and stepping over the threshold of eternity! There we're reunited with loved ones who preceded us and we're wrapped in the embrace of eternal love.

GONE BEYOND, BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

The fact that most of us can't see our loved ones after they die gives rise to the belief that they have gone beyond reach. But this is an illusion brought on by the limits of our earthly vision.

Just imagine if our sight were unlimited! Then we'd have proof, instead of just promises that life doesn't end with death.

Do we really need proof, though, to know deep within our souls that death - far from being an end - is in a very real sense a new awakening?

As for the love we felt and still feel - that hasn't died. It lives on, preparing for the day we're reunited. 

END OF THE WORLD?

 Our perception of things is interesting, isn't it? These wise words from Richard Bach caused me to pause and think. Maybe they'll do the same for you.

The caterpillar has to experience a kind of death before experiencing a new life as a butterfly. Can you relate to that in respect of dying and finding a new kind of life on the 'other side'?

JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL GOES HOME

 Here are some profound words, written by Richard Bach, for you to consider:

'They came in the evening, then, and found Jonathan gliding peaceful and alone through his beloved sky. The two gulls that appeared at his wings were pure as starlight, and the glow from them was gentle and friendly in the high night air. But most lovely of all was the skill with which they flew, their wingtips moving a precise and constant inch from his own.

Without a word, Jonathan put them to his test, a test that no gull had ever passed. He twisted his wings, slowed to a single mile per hour above stall. The two radiant birds slowed with him, smoothly, locked in position. They knew about slow flying.

He folded his wings, rolled, and dropped in a dive to a hundred ninety miles per hour. They dropped with him, streaking down in flawless formation.

At last he turned that speed straight up into a long vertical slow-roll. They rolled with him, smiling.

He recovered to level flight and was quiet for a time before he spoke. "Very well," he said, "who are you?"

"We're from your Flock, Jonathan. We are your brothers." The words were strong and calm. "We've come to take you higher, to take you home."

"Home I have none. Flock I have none. I am Outcast. And we fly now at the peak of the Great Mountain Wind. Beyond a few hundred feet, I can lift this old body no higher." 

"But you can, Jonathan. For you have learned. One school is finished, and the time has come for another to begin."

As it had shined across him all his life, so understanding lighted that moment for Jonathan Seagull. They were right. He could fly higher, and it was time to go home.

He gave one last look across the sky, across that magnificent silver land where he had learned so much.

"I'm ready," he said at last.

And Jonathan Livingston Seagull rose with the two star-bright gulls to disappear into a perfect dark sky.'

IF YOU ONLY BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE

 Dr Wayne W Dyer, in his little book 'Everyday Wisdom', tells us:

"If you only believe what you see, then you're limited to what's on the surface.

If you only believe what you see, why do you pay your electric bill?"

Words of wisdom indeed - and wise advice not to limit ourselves to what we can see when there's so much in our lives that's unseen, but real!

An Evocative Billie Holiday Song

 Here are some evocative words for you from a war-time Billie Holiday song:

'I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places that this heart of mine embraces all day through.

In that small cafe, the park across the way, the children's carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well.

I'll be seeing you in every lovely summer's day, in everything that's light and gay, I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you in the morning sun and when the night is new I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you.'

With music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal, this beautiful song became a sentimental anthem for British & American soldiers serving overseas.

But the words resonate for us all, still today, don't they?

DEATH IS NOT THE END

 You've gone beyond my sight but, oh, the memories you've left behind!

We always said death wouldn't be the end - and it isn't!

I know that now because last night you stood at my bedside and said: "Nothing has changed, my love, but for the veil now between us. That's all it is and it's intangible. So simply think it gone and you'll see that I am here - just as I ever was."

 

THERE COMES A TIME

 I've long been a fan of Ella Wheeler Wilcox and, whether you're a fan or not, I think you'll relate to these profound words of hers:

'There comes a time to every mortal being, whate'er his station or his lot in life, when his sad soul yearns for the final freeing from all this jarring and unceasing strife.

There comes a time, when, having lost its savour, the salt of wealth is worthless; when the mind grows wearied with the world's capricious favour, and sighs for something that it cannot find.

There comes a time, when, though kind friends thronging about our pathway with sweet acts of grace, we feel a vast and overwhelming longing for something that we cannot name or place. 

There comes a time, when, with earth's best love by us, to feed the heart's great hunger and desire, we find not even this can satisfy us; the soul within us cries for something higher.

What greater proof need we that we inherit a life immortal in another sphere? It is the homesick longing of the spirit that cannot find its satisfaction here.'

 

INSPIRATIONAL WORDS FROM GRIAN

 'The gardener looked towards the evening sky.

"I mean that beauty is not really in this or that flower more than it is here or there. Beauty is in the look that beholds it. If the look is alert enough, it will find the goddess of beauty wherever it looks, because she gave light to everything that exists. 

If you still wish to be more beautiful and to become an image of the goddess on earth, look towards the sky and ponder the big clouds that sail majestically across the blue. Look closely at those perfectly rounded, shiny cotton clouds, and see how their beauty pales beside the other clouds that have been perforated by the winds, and that let the sun's rays pass through."

The gardener fell silent while looking intently towards the girl, who was now watching the clouds.

"Let the light from your soul shine through the pores of your skin, and the whole world will see in you the most radiant Beauty."'

(From 'The Gardener' by Grian)

 

 

MORE WISDOM FROM KAHLIL GIBRAN

 

'It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.'

(Kahlil Gibran)

 

A JUDGEMENT

 Here are some wise words for you from B. Atkinson:

'And the dandelion doesn't stop growing because it's told it's a weed. The dandelion doesn't care what others see.

It says "one day they'll be making wishes upon me".' 

DEATH IS NOT THE END

 These wise words from Sri Chinmoy give us plenty of food for thought, don't they? I find it interesting - and maybe you do too - that it's just our minds that think of death as an ending. Certainly our soul knows the truth, so let's try to go beyond our mind and be guided by that which lies deep within us.

WISDOM FROM KAHLIL GIBRAN

 

We are told by Kahlil Gibran:

"If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide to the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one."

THE PRICE OF LOVE

 Was Queen Elizabeth I speaking of the loss of Robert Dudley, who many believed to be her one true love?

Whether she was, or was not, she obviously understood the nature of grief and such understanding only comes through experiencing it.

Centuries come and go, as humans do too, but certain things - emotions being one of these - follow a similar path no matter who we are or when we live.

 

LIFE AND DEATH

 

Wonderfully wise words from Kahlil Gibran, giving us comfort along with trust in the certainty of a hereafter!

TWO HEARTS STILL ENTWINED

 

Death seems to divide, but this is an illusion that's part of being human. Our bodies restrict us so we don't see the soul that lies beneath.

Does Love Survive Death?

 

We are told that our eyes are the mirror of our soul and, if this is so, it makes perfect sense that when two souls recognize each other - perhaps from long ago - they will reunite in this life.

Their reunion might, at first, seem beyond belief but that's because it probably has the elements of a dream. How can it be that a love seemingly lost has been reignited outside the boundaries of time?

Best not to question 'how' but to accept that when two who love are meant to be together they will be drawn - somehow - in to one another's orbit all over again.

Such is the way of things, if we're willing rather than resistant. Trust that it is so.