“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal.2:20)
Heavenly Father, it’s the morning after we planted the body of your beloved daughter, Rose Marie Miller, in the soil of the earth. For 51 of her 101 years, you gave me partnership with her in the Gospel—which then became “mom-ship” in life. I needed both, treasure both, and I will miss both.
We never attend a funeral looking for takeaways—but you gave me many gifts during Rose Marie’s funeral yesterday. Thank you. A very simple casket carrying her fragile jar of clay, bore witness to the double treasure of a life well lived and a Gospel truly believed. Rose Marie died before she died. Crucified with Christ and raised to newness of life in Jesus, she never stopped marveling at being able to say, “I live by faith in the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.” Her life of self-denial was a life of Jesus-adoration.
In her last years, Rose Marie could carry very little baggage—being physically weak and unstable as she walked. But in the days when she could still carry her own suitcase, she carried less and less other “baggage”: The big trunk of feeling responsible for the happiness and holiness of others. The roller bags of people’s approval, old regrets, and unconfessed sin. The backpacks of spending too much time, money, and worry on self. Rose Marie accumulated less and gave away more.
Her “secret” was no secret. Rose Marie loved the Gospel, she loved to repent, she loved to share Jesus, and she loved prayer—giving it and receiving it. Because she prayed more—the Gospel went deeper in her heart, she repented quicker, and she loved better. Hallelujah, and thank you Rose Marie. O Father… work all these things afresh into our lives—into my life. So Very Amen.
