Encouragement
The Final Answer
I hugged it tightly to my breast and crushed its petals to my heart. The long stemmed yellow rose slept silently in my arms as the fragrance escaped sending messages of joy to every fiber of my being.
Unbelief and fear raged along my spinal cord as I watched the image of my sleeping father lay silently and still. I stood there watching shadows fall across his face, looking at the sea of people who escaped my vision. Each one, stopped and told me how sorry they were that he was gone. Suddenly the line had disappeared to the outside and I was totally alone with dad. The tears slid down my chin and escaped just inside the chrome along the edges of that box. I held his hand and told him how much I loved him.
My visions played a re-run on me and I was totally lost in the past. I stepped out my back kitchen door and called his name, “Dad, Dad where are you”? I heard the voice I’d heard since before birth, “honey I’m over here in the rose garden”.
I ran around the corner and there he stood completely covered with dirt, dust and white fertilizer. I started giggling and he looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes that I had looked into for 39 years. He reached me a long stemmed yellow rose, and said, “Roses for my lady”. I took it and held it to my nose, the fragrance exploding into little bubbles as each breath opened my brain to loving dad more than life. Over top the fragrance of the yellow rose, I looked at him and said, “Dad, suppers ready”
He said, “O.K. Honey I’ll be there in a couple of minutes”.
I went on in and set the table knowing that I would not need a center piece. I knew what I was getting in about 10 minutes, a bouquet of yellow roses to set in the middle of that table. Sure enough when I got supper on the table, a hand appeared round the door and there in beautiful array was a vase of yellow roses with petals fit for a king.
He placed the roses in the center of the table and the aroma filled the air. We all gathered at the table to eat supper. My husband Hal said “Dad would you like to say the prayer”? My heart filled with love as I listened to that voice of peace
“Father, In the Name of Jesus, we thank you for our food,
We thank you for this family and these children
We thank you Father for your Son,
Who went away to build a home for us------------
I was brought back to my surroundings as a soft hand touched my shoulder and said, “Mrs. White can you come with me?" I laid that yellow rose beside his head and memories of a scripture invaded my mind:
John 11:25
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
My lips kissed his forehead and I said,” “Dad please keep this rose for me until I make it home, I love you".
I will smell that fragrance forever because every time I see a rose, I see daddy beside me and he will never die.
©Mary Alice Bowles
October 29, 2005
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