In the Cemetery

I'm not sure what it says about me that it was today's visit to the graveyard that inspired me to come back to blogging.

My grandmother, whose name I was given, is buried here. She was saved at nineteen. She passed into eternity when she was sixty-five. 

She is buried alongside her beloved husband, my grandfather. I spoke about him in this post. Go and have a read of it.

The verse, in Gaelic, reads:

"Aig Dia 's ro phrìseil bàs a naomh."

Taken from Psalm 116 verse 16, it translates, 'Precious in the sight of God is the death of his saints'.

You can also see on this gravestone that my grandparents lost a son, aged eleven weeks. My mum says that my grandmother never got over this loss. 

How could she? 

He died of pneumonia, a cause of death all too common in the days in which he was an infant. How blessed we are to live in the days of readily available antibiotics. 

Behind their headstone, you can see a grey slate one.

It reads:

"Arise my love, my fair one, and come with me."

These words, from Song of Solomon 2 v13, are the words of Christ, and He is speaking to His beloved people. 

The text of Scripture at the bottom says, "Oir tha fhios agam gu bheil m' fhear-saoraidh beò". 

"For I know that my Redeemer liveth" Job 19v25

And the name on it? Rev Jack Morrison - my grandmother's brother - who passed into glory only nine years ago, only months before his wife also passed to be with her Saviour.

One day, they will rise again. My grandmother will rise again, and just behind her grave, her brother will rise again. They will be resurrected right beside each other, but I believe they will have eyes only for Christ. He will come in all His glory. They will be in possession of their glorified bodies, and their eyes will turn upwards to behold their Beloved.

Oh, to be sure, they will have fellowship with each other in eternity. Surely they will speak of times when, on earth, they spoke of their precious Redeemer. But on that glorious day of the resurrection, I believe it will be 'Christ only'.

And this I found thought-provoking. The cow, oblivious to life and death, and joy and sadness, and beauty and wonder. She simply eats and drinks, and then she'll die.  No soul. No appreciation of the world around her. No praising for the beauty which surrounds her. No thanksgiving for the daily provision of food.

No soul. No Saviour. No need of a Saviour.

Unlike every person who reads this. Christ, the Redeemer, is the greatest need we have.

And He is the greatest joy and the greatest treasure we could ever possess.