22 Jan 2022, Saturday

 22 Jan 2022, Saturday

Prioritized Daily Task

Funeral services for Peggy Holmes (12 Noon to 2 PM, viewing at Madison Ward Building on Hoy Road, Madison, Mississippi                                      2:00 PM - 3:00 PM funeral service)

TALK FOR PEGGY'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS at her funeral Saturday, January 22, 2022

I am honored to be asks by the family to speak at your mother’s funeral, but this honor belongs to the Lord.  It is He who arranged for me through a good friend and brother, Max Kimball, to meet Seeb, Peggy, and you children (Tanja, Cretia, Dell, and Seba) and all you grandchildren.  I told the Lord when I was asked to speak, that He had set this up for me, now I need Him to give me the words that He would have me to speak that would touch your hearts, inspire and motivate you long after we part, to live each day of your life as if it were your last, because one day it will be.  

I have asked the Lord to send his Holy Spirit to be with you, to give you the vision to see, the faith to accept and the courage to always stand up for those things you know in your hearts to be right.                                                        

“A YOUNG MOTHER, WE WILL CALL HER PEGGY SET HER FOOT ON THE PATH OF LIFE. ‘IS THE WAY LONG SHE ASKED?’  ‘YES – AND THE WAY IS HARD, AND YOU WILL BE OLD BEFORE YOU REACH THE END OF IT.  BUT THE END WILL BE BETTER THAN THE BEGINNING.’

BUT THE YOUNG MOTHER WAS HAPPY AND WOULD NOT BELIEVE THAT ANYTHING COULD BE BETTER THAN THESE YEARS.  SO, SHE PLAYED WITH HER CHILDREN, AND GATHERED FLOWERS FOR THEM ALONG THE WAY, AND BATHED THEM IN CLEAR STREAMS, AND THE SUN SHOWN ON THEM AND LIFE WAS GOOD.  AND THE YOUNG MOTHER CRIED, ‘NOTHING WILL EVER BE LOVERIER THAN THIS.’

THEN CAME NIGHT, AND STORMS AND THE PATH WAS DARK, AND THE CHILDREN SHOOK WITH FEAR AND COLD. AND THE MOTHER DREW THEM CLOSE AND COVERED THEM WITH HER MANTLE, AND THE CHILDREN SAID, ‘OH, MOTHER, WE ARE NOT AFRAID FOR YOU ARE NEAR AND NO HARM CAN COME.’ AND THE MOTHER SAID, ‘THIS IS BETTER THAN THE BRIGHTNESS OF DAY, FOR I HAVE TAUGHT MY CHILDREN COURAGE.  TODAY I HAVE GIVEN THEM STRENGTH.’

AND THE NEXT DAY CAME STRANGE CLOUDS WHICH DARKENED THE EARTH---CLOUDS OF WAR AND HATE AND EVIL, AND THE CHILDREN GROPED AND STUMBLED, AND THE MOTHER SAID, ‘LOOK UP, LIFT YOUR EYES TO THE LIGHT.’  AND THE CHILDREN LOOKED AND SAW ABOVE THE CLOUDS AN EVERLASTING GLORY, AND IT GUIDED THEM AND BROUGHT THEM BEYOND THE DARKNESS. AND THAT NIGHT, THE MOTHER SAID, ‘THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF ALL FOR I HAVE ‘FOR I HAVE SHOWN MY CHILDREN GOD.’

AND THE DAYS WENT ON, AND THE WEEKS AND THE MONTHS AND THE YEARS, AND THE MOTHER GREW OLD, AND SHE WAS LITTLE AND BENT.  BUT HER CHILDREN WERE TALL AND STRONG AND WALKED WITH COURAGE.  AND WHEN THE WAY WAS HARD, THEY HELPED THEIR MOTHER, AND WHEN THE WAY WAS ROUGH, THEY LIFTED HER, FOR SHE WAS AS LIGHT AS A FEATHER, AND AT LAST, THEY CAME TO A HILL, AND BEYOND THIS HILL THEY COULD SEE A SHINING ROAD AND GOLDEN GATES FLUNG OPEN.

AND THE MOTHER SAID, ‘I HAVE REACHED THE END OF MY JOURNEY.  AND NOW I KNOW THAT THE END IS BETTER THAN THE BEGINNING, FOR MY CHILDREN CAN WALK ALONE, AND THEIR CHILDREN AFTER THEM.’  

REMEMBER, EVEN THOUGH PEGGY AND SEEB ARE NOT HERE, THEY STILL LOVE ALL OF YOU AND NOTHING YOU CAN DO WILL EVER MAKE THEM STOP LOVING YOU.  A PARENT'S LOVE IS THE STRONGEST AND MOST ENDURING LOVE THAT EXISTS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF GOD'S LOVE.  WHEN YOU HAVE DISOBEYED, AND NOT RESPECTFUL, YOU HAVE CAUSED THEM PAIN, THE HURT IS MORE THAN YOU REALIZE.  BUT THEY HAVE NEVER STOPPED LOVING YOU AND THEIR DESIRE IS THAT YOU ALL BE TOGETHER IN HEAVEN. 

THEY KNEW THAT 1/3 OF HEAVENLY FATHER'S CHILDREN WERE CAST OUT OF HEAVEN FOR CHOOSING LUCIFER OVER CHRIST.  WE KNEW MANY OF THEM THAT WERE CAST OUT, THEY WERE FRIENDS; WE WERE SAD BECAUSE THEIR PUNISHMENT WAS ALMOST MORE THAN THEY COULD BEAR.  THEY DID NOT WANT TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTION BUT WANTED TO BLAME SOMEONE ELSE. THEY WERE ANGRY AND WANTED YOU TO BE MISERABLE LIKE THEM.

THERE ARE SOME OLD CHRISTIAN HYMNS I GREW UP HEARING.  ONE IS "IT TOOK A MIRACLE" (and oh how true that song is) Part of the lyrics, “It took a miracle to put the stars in place.  It took a miracle to hang the world in space.  But when He saved my soul.  Cleansed and made me whole.  It took a miracle of Love And Grace”

ANOTHER IS FROM 1907 BY ADA R. HABERSHON.  ”WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN?”  It was made famous by the Carter Family.  THE THIRD MAKES THE SAME POINT as "Will the Circle be Unbroken": “NO EMPTY CHAIRS in Heaven” Look around our family table, every person in his place.

Memorize this happy moment, and each familiar face.

Look around our family circle, feel the love that we all share.

Life is sweet, and so complete with each loved one gathered here.

There are no empty chairs at our table,

No empty feelings inside,

When all those we love are together,

Here side by side.

Time will fly and all too quickly, some will leave to try their wings,

Empty places at our table will tug at our heartstrings.

But the number at our table will increase as children come,

Bringing to our family table, sweet innocence and fun.

We’ll add a few more chairs to our table,

A lot more laughter and love,

As our joy is multiplied daily,

To fill our cup.

When there comes a time for parting, there will be no tears because,

We will set a grander table where all may live in love.

There we’ll wait for all our loved ones, who will come to take their place.

At the feast that lasts forever, in God’s eternal place.

We’ll have no empty chairs at our table,

No empty feelings inside,

When all those we love are together,

There side by side.

May the circle not be broken, may each one return to be,

Safe within this peaceful haven, through all eternity.

We’ll have no empty chairs at our table,

When all are gathered above,

No more empty chairs at our table,

In heaven’s home of love.

The meaning of the song is just like the title says “No Empty Chairs” in heaven. Peggy and Seeb want all of you to know how important it is to them to have all of their family back with them again in heaven. They do not want Any Empty Chairs at their table, no one missing.  This is not what Satan and the angels who fell with him want; they want the circle to be broken and your chair to be empty.  I had a friend tell me once, “It is not the sins I dislike that bother me, it is the sins that I like, that have me concerned.” 

To all of you young ones getting married, some sooner than others.  I want to share with you a piece of advice I heard many years ago and I have been passing it along.  When you are thinking about the person you are to marry, ask yourself this question, “Does he love the Lord more than me?” If the answer is yes, and you love the Lord more than him; then, by all means, say yes, you two should get married.  You men after you are married, remember the example Seeb set with his wife, "If he could not take Peggy into something he wanted her to do, then she did not have to do it." 

I loved how much Seeb and Peggy loved and cared about you and they do not want “Any Empty Chairs” at their table in Heaven. 

When a person’s life is over, no one talks about the size of their bank account, what kind of car they drove, or the size of their home, instead they speak of the person, what they became, and the influence they had on their family and others who knew them.   

Council with your family and the Lord on how you can overcome Satan and the challenges you face in this life.  The Lord has made you and me a promise, it is found in Helaman chapter 5 verse 12 “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

May the circle not be broken, may each one return, safe in Heaven with your family through all eternity by building and living your life on the Rock of our Redeemer, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, amen.