“Noel, Noel, Noeeeel, Noel” I sing enthusiastically. I love to sing and wonder how many more years I will have the privilege of singing with these wonderful choir friends?
I glance at my choir mate to the right. She is so young and sings beautifully. I’m glad she is there to fill in the gaps. My own voice has become unpredictable, but tonight I hit all the descant notes in the chorus. Oh, what a moment as the notes fill my throat and sail off towards the ceiling. Wow! I can even feel my heart pounding. Not to worry, I tell myself, it is the last verse and I can soon sit down.
I start to close my hymn book when I realize people are still singing! I hadn’t noticed another verse at the bottom of the page. Have I enough breath left, I wonder, enough to carry on? I do, then I sit down exhausted.
I think back on these last few years of widowhood. When I’d said my goodbyes to my husband I felt my life was over…I had raised my two daughters, enjoyed my grandchildren and watched a great-grandchild splash in the enamel bathtub HIS grandmother had bathed in.
I had loved a man deeply for 54 years and lost him to cancer. My family, church family and friends were close by and were a blessing to me. I was ready to step back.
But sometimes, just when we feel we have sung the song of life, God steps in and says, “There is another verse.”
So for 2010 I have kept on singing. (Or rather, written and shared with you my faith and stories of my life.) I hope they have touched your day with laughter, tears or just memories of the past. Thank you for reading them and allowing me to sing “another verse.”
