Funeral Processions, June 28 Daily Reflection

Funeral Procession

Cars in a row with the right of way and little purple funeral flags entering the cemetery; it was a funeral procession. I paused, stopped in the traffic waiting as so many cars filed by.

We wait in our cars music playing, talking on cell phones, waiting impatiently so we can go passed the scene and keep moving. While those in the funeral line ride in silence, despair and grief. Their day is frozen in time, still in the moment, a time out of time. They are crying, talking of the person who has passed on and those left behind. They ride into the cemetery passed the lines of cars waiting wishing they were one of us on the outside of the funeral procession.

It is odd how the two of us collide in this world; the people in the funeral procession and those waiting for it to pass. We are dying or living, burying or birthing, inheriting or giving it all away. Such is life.

We need to be thankful for where we are in this moment and learn from where we have been. We need to appreciate the sorrows of others, knowing full well where we will be. One day that funeral procession will follow our casket into that cemetery. Will the line be long or short? One of the saddest funerals I have ever heard of was that of an acquaintance of my Dad. The priest, my dad and the spouse left behind stood by the grave in the snow. They had no children, no friends and no extended family living.

Will you have a long funeral procession with lots of friends and family there to honor your passing? Or will it just be a few who knew you well? Next time your path crosses that of a funeral procession instead of being annoyed say a silent prayer for each passenger of each car. One never knows the day we will be in that line or in that first car.

 

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