Photos

                First born son
           David Jonathan Young.
          Beloved gift of God.
          How we love you
          And you are God’s gift to the world.
          The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
           Blessed be the name of the Lord.


          Goodbye
     Never easy.
     How we miss you.
     But you have gone to a better place.
      There’s an empty place at all family celebrations.
     And I am left with albums full of photos and memories.
This is what the Lord says.  “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past.   See – I am doing a new thing!   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?   I am making a way in the desert and streams on the wasteland.”


      New  Mother
     You didn’t know how hard it would be.
     When you saw that first scan, felt that  first bubble of life, gazed at miniature baby clothes, you didn’t know.
    All your dreams for your child, 9 months of bonding, of loving, of anticipation.

You didn’t know you’d have to kneel at his graveside having had only had half a day to show your love to him, to touch him, to know him.   You didn’t know you’d be called on to watch him die.   You didn’t know what motherhood would demand of you.
But you have a mother’s heart and only the strength of God will get you through.



                                   First born son
                 Zachary Samuel Young
              How you love him.
            His little life was God’s gift to the world.
            The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
            Blessed be the name of the Lord.


Goodbye
     Never easy.
     How you miss him.
     But he has gone to a better place.
      There’s an empty place in your lives
    And you are left with only  videos, photos and memories.

            New Daddy
  You didn’t expect the hard demands of fatherhood.    The hardest things you’ve ever had to do.
“I can do all things through him who gives me strength”

But you took the challenge and  turned a funeral into  a celebration because you know that your son is with the Lord and you will see him again.   You know that his life counted and that it was not all in vain and this is not the end.
“Be still my soul; thy God doth undertake                                                              to guide the future as he has the past.                                                                Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;                                                           All now mysterious shall be bright at last.”



    Balloons and paper planes.
    Symbols of life and celebration.    How dichotomous is our experience.   We can only trust the Lord of Life and Death.