A Song Prayer

Yesterday I went to a new oncologist at a new cancer center. As I sat in the beautiful waiting room with a fresh crop of gray, curly, hair on my head, I noticed the other patients. They all had hats on their heads. Some big and beautiful, others small, simple and utilitarian. The hats covered the bare and bald. Symbols of naked vulnerability that lies underneath, it was not too long ago that a hat was my necessary friend.

There in the waiting room as I watched the other patients arrive, I listened to East Mountain South sing Hard Times. The song is an old one but the words are profound.

Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,

While we all sup sorrow with the poor;

There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;

Oh Hard times come again no more.

Chorus:

Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,

Hard Times, hard times, come again no more

Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;

Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay,

There are frail forms fainting at the door;

Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say

Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

There's a pale drooping maiden who toils her life away,

With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:

Though her voice would be merry, 'tis sighing all the day,

Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave,

Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore

Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave

Oh hard times come again no more.

(Chorus)

The words went into in my ears as I watched the men and women come in the doors of the clinic. The words suddenly became a prayer. The Spirit of God descended and filled the room with a glowing peace and comforting presence. Tears filled my eyes. The heavens opened. The voices of those who have gone before joined the chorus. The eternal came near. I was astonished by God's love and care in such a place of pain and uncertainty.

My mom died in the building where the new cancer center is housed. I felt her close. I did not expect the encounter but none the less it was real. She was there too. Call me strange if you will, but what happened was gift, pure gift to me.

Oh God the things we do not know nor cannot see but are nearer to us than our own breath. Help us be open to you and your eternal truth and life.

Comments

[Sue]

Wow! when i read this about your mom it gave me the chills!..it was almost exactly 40 years to the day of her death, i think of you and your family often...

with love,
your cousin sue

[Janice Knight]

I am glad that in a place that could have been more painful, you found comfort. May that continue to be your journey - surrounded by your Heavenly Father and your mother. Peace to you!

[JaimeG]

I am glad you received that gift. I think it is beautiful.

[Christi]

Thank you for this post.