A Time for Everything

This is a tale of two women. I did not know either one of them very well, and they did not know one another. One was 86 years old and the other 50-something. One was my next door neighbor and the other the neighbor of a friend of a friend. One I saw a handful of times when she would venture out to water her garden. The other I had only met once.

Last Monday however, both of these women came to the forefront of my reality. For Francisca, my neighbor, it was because she silently exited this world; and for the other woman, Blanca, it was because she quietly re-entered it.

That memorable morning the unexpected arrival of an ambulance with flashing lights, but no siren, prompted me to expect the worst. A paramedic shaking her head, family members speeding to the scene, and then the hearse confirmed my suspicions--Francisca had died in her sleep. A quick word of consolation to the family members, an offer of help if they needed anything. The arrival of more family, an invitation to the funeral and wake. My neighbor was gone, just like that.

But the day went on: friends over for lunch, helping the daughters with homework, a neighbor coming to use the phone-hers was cut off, a mom coming to get a copy of the day's homework and then another unexpected occurence.

The sister of a good friend calling for me. She had never called me before. Several questions in quick succession: "Do you know Blanca C.?" I did only because several months ago someone told me she was in a coma since January and had asked me to be praying for her. "They told me you went to pray for her." I did go in March, one time, when God put it on my heart and my daughters and I had been praying every day since. "I called to tell you something--Blanca is awake and talking. I have just spent the whole day with her." Again, just like that, but this time Blanca had awakened from her coma induced slumber.

Wow!! Unbelievable!! In the same day, one woman goes to sleep and passes from this life to the next one, while another woman, living in another dimension for nine months, literally comes back to life. What a mixture of joy and sadness. Only God knows why He picked the same day to juxtapose these two very distinct but related realities.

The words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes seem appropriate for such a day as this:

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven--
A time to give birth, and a time to die;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak..."

May I live the time that is appointed for this day....