A New Body...

- Dick Underwood 2008

God has provided a physical body with which to live this physical life, but eventually, through age, infirmity, injury or illness, our body becomes so worn or damaged that it is no longer capable of sustaining our life.
At that moment, God allows us to lay our physical bodies down, and he provides us with a new, Spiritual, Body.
Our physical body is confined by time.
We are confined to our physical limits.
We only get a fleeting glimpse of things spiritual.
Our new, Spiritual, Body has no limits.
We are able to see the fullness of Spiritual things.
The fullness of God's love.
The fullness of God's joy.
The fullness of God's peace.
So we are not sad because of the death of our loved one.
We are sad because of our loss, not theirs.
Within the limits of your physical bodies,
within the limits of your physical experience,
I pray that you will receive a glimpse of
the love, joy, and peace of God
that now surrounds and in-fills your loved one.

If Tears Could Build A Stairway

If tears could build a stairway
and thoughts a memory lane
I'd walk right up to heaven
and bring you home again
No Farewell words were spoken
No time to say good-bye
You were gone before I knew it
And only God knows why.

My heart's still active in sadness
And secret tears still flow
What it meant to lose you
No one can ever know.
But now I know you want us
To mourn for you no more
To remember all the happy times
Life still has much in store.

Since you'll never be forgotten
I pledge to you today
A hallowed place within my heart
Is where you'll always stay.

God knows why, with chilling touch,
Death gathers those we love so much,
And what now seems so strange and dim,
Will all be clear, when we meet Him.
I Knew you for a Moment

A funeral poem for son

Son, it isn't right that you,
Should have died before your Pa;
Or that you should go to Heaven,
before your loving Ma.
But God knows best,
And He has taken you to be His own;
And now you sit beside Him,
on His gold encrusted throne.
We always thought that we would go,
Before our loving Son;
But you went first, before your life
had really just begun.
And so we mourn what may have been,
The promises denied.
We never will forget the
Fateful day that our Son died.
We'll celebrate your birthdays,
Although you won't be there;
And we'll mourn the passing years,
As we see your empty chair.
And one day, Son, you'll meet again,
Your loving Ma and Pa;
And we'll be united,
On that shinning heavenly star.
But till then we'll remember,
Each empty passing year;
How you brought joy and happiness,
And laughter, and a tear.
You made our lives complete,
And they're empty now you've gone.
But we never will forget you,
Our ever loving Son.

© 2010 Dick Underwood

The Grain

I took up a handful of grain

and let it slip

flowing through my fingers.

I said to myself,

"This is what it is all about.

There is no longer

any room for pretence.

At harvest time,

the essence is revealed

the straw and chaff

are set aside,

they have done their job.

The grain alone matters -

sacks of pure gold.

So it is when a person dies

the essence of that

person is revealed.

At the moment of death

a person's character

stands out happy

for the person who has

forged it well over the years.

Then it will not be the

great achievement

that will matter, nor,

how much money

or possessions

a person has amassed.

These like the

straw and the chaff,

will be left behind.

It is what

he has made of himself

that will matter.

Death can take away

from us what we have,

but it cannot rob us

of who we are.