the end of the road

Try making six fit into five. It doesn't go!

And that, I guess, in terms of mathematics, is pretty much the sum of my week.

Yesterday was spent away from here, interring my Mum's ashes at what used to be her home for many years, at Southend in Argyll.

It was a good day. A long day. A very special day. A long day. And, of course, a hard day, too, in lots of different ways.

Southend itself is really the end of the road. Which is, I think, appropriate! Because this was, indeed, the end of the road for Mum. At least in terms of her earthly life.

A final sort of 'resting place' for that little wooden casket with her dust-like earthly remains. And a final sort of pilgrimage of grief for all of us as well.

Not easy. A cold and wintry day to match the mood of such a time as that. And always in the shadow of the little mound which down the years has always overlooked the little cemetery there and on which, centuries ago, the ancient saint Columba is reputed to have stood and preached the good news of the risen Jesus Christ.

I always feel it's like his resonating tones still echo down the centuries and bathe our lives, our hearts, our grief with all the solace and the comfort of the message which he brought.

So it was good to be there. And fitting in its way that yesterday was also Mum's own birthday. It gave the whole occasion just a lovely sense of 'roundedness'. As of the Lord himself who had brought her into life so long ago, now gently closed that rich and well-lived life and neatly wrapped it up.

Meanwhile!

The result, of course, is the '6-into-5-doesn't-go' scenario! The need to try and make up time with all else that is going on. I took another early start and was up and off at 6am to try and get ahead. Well ... try and catch up more like!

I was over to share the sort of 'Singalong' the Primary School was having on this last day of the term. I'd said to the Primary 5s the other day that I'd try and get along and hear the song that they had been rehearsing.

It was good. A fun way to end the term, with all the school being gathered there like that. And all the lovely music with its focus on the birth of God's own Son. I was glad that I'd gone, for all that it meant the time was squeezed just that bit more.

And the bulk of the rest of the day's been spent pretty much in the 'book'. Listening in to what the Lord is meaning to be saying when we gather in a couple of days' time. And preparing the powerpoint slides with it being a 'family' service that we're holding this coming Sunday morning.

With all the children in throughout, the whole thing needs to be both short and fast and visual. And that means more than a little work!

But these are exciting days. Important ones. There is that sense about these present times. And even though this week's been fairly rushed, that much is coming through.

The end of the term for the children at the school. The end of the road for my Mum in this earthly life. And the end of the year coming up for us all.

The end of a chapter with another one waiting to start.

Is that where we're at as a people these days? Is that where we're at in society now? Is that what the Lord is seeking to say?