Many of us have experienced the let-down when the theatre play is over. It’s natural. For a while we are caught up in the movement, the story and sometimes the music and then it is done. Oh yes, we say, “wasn’t that great?” and for a while we chatter about it…then we may mention it in the next few weeks, but gradually the images fade and unless we were personally involved we forget the lines and the music.
Shakespeare wrote “All the world’s a stage.” And I believe that is true. For a while we act out our parts as children, teenagers and adults…as one act ends another begins and dialogue and costumes change.
After four years of widowhood I have gradually become accustomed to this new role I am playing and the marriage that claimed over fifty years of my life is somewhat fading. Of course, there are memories that still surface, leaving me weeping. Then the tears are dried and I take up again the role I am now playing.
Since his death I have played roles that I could not have imagined before…heading up committees for projects, doing volunteer interviews for local events, writing this blog for the Presbyterian Record website and leading an ecumenical Bible study every Friday morning.
These tasks are different from the ones I did previously, yet, I have been led into these activities just like an actor in a play, changing stage props and lines.
It has taken time. I didn’t want to change roles. I’d had a happy marriage and being a widow was not on my list of “druthers”. But I was on contract to a higher authority and He was calling the shots.
So I am learning new lines, singing new songs and playing a different role. The first few years in a marriage was a learning experience, so why should the first few years of widowhood be easy? “With God’s grace, I can do this, I tell myself each day” and I carry on, one day at a time. Even though the curtain came down on the last production I was in, obviously God had planned this new role for me and I will trust Him.
“For lo the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing of birds has come.” Song of Solomon 2:11
