Eagle's Wings

Last August, my mother-in-law passed away after several years of a difficult journey through the "long goodbye" of Alzheimer's. A few months prior to her death, I had written a poem about how I saw her much like a majestic eagle - beautiful, fierce, wounded and longing to once again fly free . So, it was a powerful moment when, the day after her death as I was driving my daughter to Boston, an eagle flew so close to our car that we could clearly see the beautiful, bright white feathers of its head.

We each experience grief differently. We pray, cry, laugh and search for ways to remember the ones we have loved and lost. My family seems to have landed on birds as a particular way of remembering those we love. We remember my father-in-law whenever we see a loon. We remember my dad whenever we see a goose. And now, we remember my mother-in-law whenever we see an eagle. These little reminders often seem to come right when we need them.

The evening after my mother-in-law's memorial service (held just this past June), the family gathered out on the deck of the home where we were staying overlooking the Susquehanna River. We were laughing, crying and reminiscing when a bald eagle landed in the tree right in front of us. We watched, speechless, for several minutes until the eagle literally flew off into the sunset .

In our deepest moments of grief, God comforts us and raises us up with wings as eagles. In whatever way you may be grieving today, I pray that you will feel God's presence raising you up on eagle's wings so that you may run and not be weary.

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"They shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint."

Isaiah 40: 30-31