Article May 31, 1999 Issue

Grief vanished

By Alfred J. Gemrich

MY FATHER-IN-LAW WAS in obvious distress. He was of advanced years. His last months in the nursing home had seen a deterioration of his mental and physical condition. My wife and I sat with him at his bedside. What do you do or say under the circumstances? Death makes no sense, but I was trying to make some sense out of it.

I opened my Bible to John 17:3 and read over and over that great passage: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." I felt helpless and inadequate in my understanding. He passed on that morning in our presence. With heavy hearts we left and went about our duties, which included making the necessary arrangements for him. I felt agitated and frustrated throughout the day, trying to comprehend the incomprehensible.

It was well after dark, and there was snow on the ground when I got back to the farm that March night. One of my favorite psalms begins, "The heavens tell out the glory of God One day speaks to another, night with night shares its knowledge, and this without speech or language or sound of any voice" (Ps. 19:1-3, The New English Bible). Still searching for some consolation and understanding, I looked up to see the sky crystal clear. Stars sparkled like tiny ice chips in the frigid air. It is unusual to see the northern lights at our latitude in southern Michigan, but that night was an exception.

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