The Box in the Corner

My last thought that came before me, as I started watching the taillights that day, a simple thought really; before long, as the world turns closer and closer to chaos, everyone will be seeking the hands of Christ. Its funny, the thoughts that come from ones back pages, or any of our own book’s of life. I was wiping the tears from my cheeks when Mary came outside to greet the new day that lay before us all, her face full of contentment, “Good morning Rex.” Mary said in greeting me on this, the morning of a beautiful new day. “Well good morning Mary, how did you sleep last night, you looked so comfortable, did you sleep well?” I asked in concern of her personal need for comfort and rest from her life on the tattered Elk Valley streets. Mary looked well rested, her face was clear from most all of the fear that she had shown when I first met her outside my door. Today she looked vibrant and youthful, and her manner was calm and peaceful as she looked around the surrounding area that has been so torn apart by the mindless actions of man. “This is a beautiful day Mary; I haven’t felt a day like this for such a long time.” I said in a very content manner, I feel so content that I even question my own sanity; it was as if I were dreaming. “Then what of this day Rex, what should we do with this beautiful day?” Mary asked of me with exuberance. I thought for just an instant, for that’s all the time it took for me to think of what to do with the day. “Come with me Mary, I have something I would like to show you.” I invited her to follow me to the warehouse. Mary took my hand, a surprising touch, somehow Mary knew that she could trust me, maybe she is an angel as Jesus had stated. I haven’t known that feeling since that morning that the bombs came crashing down; holding my children and my wife was a daily priority of mine, yeah Lord I lived for those moments. But the last time I felt their hands in mine was on the day that I buried my family and my life. That day I felt for the first real time in my life the true finality of life here on earth; when the coldness of death leaves the reality of life, the quickness of life, and how fast the lives of the ones that you love can slip away from your grasp. Mary was young, young enough to be my daughter, how I favor those days with my family, there is not one day that I don’t feel them around me, and Mary brings those feelings even closer to my heart. This morning on the knoll with Jesus they could see every inch of my heart and my soul, when it’s my time to leave this earth, I know where I will be going, I will be going straight to my family and I can say with asurity that that time in my life will never be soon enough, for my home has always been in Amy and my two children. It seems strange to think this way and have the peace in my life that I do when all I ever wanted to do is to walk this earth and create, the cars that I wanted to build, the places I wanted to go to, those things no longer matter, without my family by my side. But today there is hope for Elk Valley and that is all that really matters in the light of God. But all the goodness in life however shortly needed in my time left here on this earth, the feelings that I had for life came back with the simple touch of Mary’s hand in mine. A gift, from the Lord, a gift from God, it feels so good to be alive again. I know now what Jesus meant when he said that ‘Mary had to learn to [be] again.’