Parable of immortality ~For Martha Williams (Ma)
Parable of immortality ( A ship leaves . . . )
I am standing by the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last she hangs like a peck of white cloud
just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says :
- ‘There she goes!
Gone where?
Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the places of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says:
- ‘There she goes! ‘,
there are other eyes watching her coming to shore,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout :
- ‘Here she comes!’
By Henry Van Dyke
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Ever notice how ships going out to sea appear to get smaller and smaller and eventually disappear from our sight altogether? This is because as something goes away from us, it shrinks on the horizon and in the end, the horizon consumes it and it disappears altogether. The ship is still sailing on, we just can no longer see it. However, it is there, and it is still steaming ahead.
As the ship disappears from us, it is slowly appearing to those on the other side of the world. To us, it gets smaller and smaller and not much more than a dot on the horizon. However, to those on the other side of the world, it grows and grows, and eventually appears!
As it disappears from our sight, it reappears in someone else’s!
The bible says,”when we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord [2 Corinthians 5:8.]
Today I am thinking of ma and I am sad. However, I know .. although she has sailed away from us and has gone from our mist, she is just now appearing to Jesus and all the folks in her new home. What a glorious arrival that must be! Ma’s spirit is free from the ailments of the earthly body, pain free, sorrow free, and just free! Can you imagine the joy of freedom from earthly ailments of the body as she floats on into her new home to once again meet with those love ones who have already departed these shores! What a day of rejoicing it must be!
In memory of Martha Williams, “ma” a most loving woman who was always like a mother to me. Ma took sail and left earthly shores around 2:30 this afternoon. I know she has sailed on to the other side and many love ones are waving her in, as they see her coming home. I can see them jubilantly shouting…here she comes, as she jubilantly shouts back, Ship Ahoy!
Sail on Ma!
