HOME

“I’d like to return these.”

For anyone in sales, these are words no salesman wants to hear. . . especially on Christmas Eve. Not only is doing a return a process, but it’s money off the company’s profit and out of my pocket. But this was different.  Her tone of voice . . . the look in her eyes . . . a middle-aged woman . . . the palpable sadness.

I took the earrings and pendant from her hand. “Is there a reason you’re returning them,” I asked.

“She died,” she blurted out bluntly.

With these words, tears filled her eyes. Without asking, I knew, that I knew, it was her Mom who had passed. “What was y’alls relationship,” I asked, hoping to prompt an answer that would confirm or deny my suspicion.

“She was my Mom. She passed a couple of days ago.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss. Grieve with Hope. I will be praying for you,” I replied.

With these words, eyes, already glassy and fatigued, released tears that freely flowed down her face.

“Was it sudden or had she been sick,” I asked.

“It was a massive heart attack. I am still shocked. I miss her so much.”

“I know she’s in a better place, but it just hurts,” she candidly said.

“I could only imagine. You hang in there. Try to keep your head up. A person never dies as long as we keep their memory alive in our hearts. We carry them with us every single day,” I said, filling her in on numerous people I’ve lost in my life.

“Your Mom will live vicariously through you and you will see her again one day.”

I walked out, from behind the register, and told her, “I’m a hugger.” I asked God to impart Comfort and Peace through my arms and that Hope would begin to flicker with the soft truth that life goes on . . . that through one kind gesture the ice berg, of grief, would feel its first crack.

Sure, the process would be long and a difficult one, but one day that glacier of hurt would more closely resemble a snow man.

As I hugged her, I thought of the empty chair she would see back at home, the earrings and the pendant never worn. That made me sad as that feeling is far too familiar to me. And though I hurt for her, I felt the slightest glimmer of Hope and warmth . . . Her Mom was in Heaven. The sadness shared between a stranger and a daughter, the confusion, the hurt are all emotions she would never have to experience again.

Her Mom was Home!   

Last-Minute Shopping

“Last minute,” I asked as I purveyed the obvious question for a man standing in front of me the day before Christmas.

“Not really.”

The man, in his early forties, stood with six bags, mostly from Victoria Secret, in his two hands.

“Those for your wife,” I inquired.

“Yeah, I just got back stateside two days ago.”

“No way! You in the military,” I asked.

“Yes sir.”

“What branch.”

“Marines.”

“My uncle was in the Marines. He was in the Korean War and Vietnam. I have great respect for you. Where were you.”

“Afghanistan.”

“I really appreciate your service.”

“Thank you. It’s an honor to serve.”

I asked him if he had seen American Sniper and what his thoughts were on it. He told me it was pretty accurate, only worse, but as far as Hollywood goes, they nailed it! He continued, informing me he was a sniper like American hero Chris Kyle. “But I’m no Chris Kyle. That guy was a legend,” he assured me.

“Are you going back for another tour.”

“Yes, I’m going back the end of January or February.”  

“Well, I can’t imagine how happy you are to be home. I know your wife and girls are too. Hope you have a blessed Christmas.”

“Thank you, sir.”

With that, the chisel-faced soldier with the grizzly beard, an American hero in his own right, left the store. In that moment, I thought about the definition of home, once again thanked God for my family and how blessed I am then I pondered what Heaven would one day be.

I smiled likely to never see him again, but with the subtlety of an air horn, it struck me . . . he, like the woman just days earlier, was home.

Revelation 21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.