For Eleanor

There is a beautiful flowering tree known throughout the South called the Crape Myrtle. This amazing tree comes in many varieties, its tissue-paper like flowers in many colors ranging from white to crimson, deep salmon to lavender. Most varieties’ bark peels beautifully in winter like the birch. It does not take well to too much water, nor too much fertilizer. As a matter of fact, the Crape Myrtle does rather well on roadsides or in containers and holds up to a lot of abuse while still giving a lovely display. Some of you may be groaning because you’ve spent too much time cutting back suckers and pulling up seedlings from your lawn. This is another admirable quality, for it gives itself so enthusiastically and unselfishly...

As a matter of fact, there is something to be learned from the flora and fauna around us, for they unconditionally and without hesitation always obey the voice of their Creator. They really can’t help it, for unlike us, they do not have the gift of free will and conscious choices. Yes, we may, and often do, choose to follow our own path whether to joy or sorrow, life or destruction.

There are some who fulfill their purpose to give shade and shelter, some have excellent fruit to share and nourish other living things, some have unsurpassed woodgrain for building, some more delicate forms of life are touches of humor or sheer artistry of the Master to please the eye and gladden the heart. The gospel of Luke says:

“Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Some of God’s creations we have to think really hard about what their purpose could be.
Our friend, and mother, Eleanor, understood one of God’s first gifts rather well. You see, just before he made his final crowning creations on this Earth, he made a beautiful garden for them to live in. There is nothing He loves more than to see His children happy, our gratitude for His gifts is the least He asks for in return. In Psalms 8 we read

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

There is nothing shameful about beauty, for he is the author and creator of it. There is nothing wrong with surrounding ourselves with beautiful things, for it is a balm to the soul.

In Ezekiel, however, is a perfect example of His caution to us all,

14) “And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD… But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown…”

We should not misuse our gifts or think them to be of our own design, for this ingratitude and disobedience not only offends Him who created us, but offends and harms others as well.

Think on the many Crape Myrtles you see… not only do they give of themselves constantly and unselfishly, but, like the most treasured things, it blooms in adversity.

Though it may have seemed sometimes, Ms. Eleanor did not lead a charmed life. She, too, had her Faith –and Patience- tried in many ways. [Earl was a good source of adversity]

The family she came from, with roots in Ireland and Italy, began in the exotic land of San Francisco, California. Francesco Ambrosio and Catherine Howard had just one child together before the great and terrible Earthquake in April of 1906 forced them to leave. Their only choice then was to be crowded onto a ferryboat to go North to Marin county, and they settled in Larkspur, a little logging town that didn’t even have a fire department. But they certainly weren’t beaten. Frank helped organize the first volunteer fire department (after the fires and destruction they just saw, who could blame them) became the second Marshal, Tax collector, Sheriff, and Fire Chief all while being a rock and foundation to his family, and serving in the Masonic order and others. He gave of himself freely in serving others, and his chosen profession was to create beauty in the world by painting and decorating.

Frank and Catherine had several beautiful daughters, and the last blossom on the branch was Eleanor. Daddy’s little girl. No doubt, she learned well the importance of community, active participation, education, family, a beautiful and peaceful home…

No matter how confining the pot was that she was planted in, she spread her branches and shared.

Those of you who have known our dear Ms. Eleanor may be familiar with the work she has done in the Community to further the arts. We can never do enough to preserve our right to share our God-given talents that, like the plants we walk by every day, are to creatively express ourselves, lift a burdened heart, and help another to think on the tiny miracles that happen each day.
[[share more experiences from the Art Guilds, etc. ]]

The beloved story “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White was adapted for a delightful musical in the early 1970’s, and for many like me was a gentle first lesson in life and death being essential together. The following is a song sung as a lullaby to the lonely pig:

How very special are we
We’re just a moment to be
Part of life’s eternal rhyme
How very special are we
To have on our family tree
Mother Earth and Father Time

He turns the seasons around
And so she changes her gown
But they always look in their prime
They go on dancing their dance
Of everlasting romance
Mother Earth and Father Time

The summer larks return to sing
Oh, what a gift they give
Then autumn days
grow short and cold
Oh, what a joy to live

How very special are we
For just a moment to be
Part of life’s eternal rhyme
How very special are we
To have on our family tree
Mother Earth and Father Time

The autumn days grow short and cold.
It's Christmastime again.
The snows of winter slowly melt.
The days grow short. And then.
He turns the seasons around
and so she changes her gown.
Mother Earth and Father Time.
How very special are we.
For just a moment to be.
Part of life's eternal rhyme.

And now at this season of life, this wintertime of dormant slumber for our dear Eleanor, we will have sorrow and loneliness for want of her companionship. We will remember seasons past when we could laugh and love face to face. Yet we should also remember the promise of springtime. Apart from the gift of Life our great Father in Heaven gave, is also the gift of Life Everlasting.

Life is short whether one dies at seventeen or at eighty. To a seventeen-year-old, eighty years seems like an eternity. But to a seventy-year-old, eighty years is not a long probationary period at all. Another lesson taught by death concerns the eternal importance of families. Just as there are parents to greet a newborn on earth, the scriptures teach that caring family members greet the spirits in paradise and assist them in the adjustments to a new life (see Gen. 25:8; Gen. 35:29; Gen. 49:33). The spirit continues in learning and loving, even to assist as permission and necessity allow those still among the mortals.

Recently, my mother was able to attend her only sister who passed away from cancer, and she left with a sacred experience. “The girls had been taking turns staying the night, both were there during the day. Things got tougher so they called in Hospice. Told Bev it was a visiting nurse from the hospital. She was able to give some medication to Bev so she'd calm down and try to relax. Next morning about 7:45 we were with Bev doing what we could to help her through her last few minutes; her eyes were closed and then suddenly she opened them and looked around the room "They're all here" she whispered. "Who's there, Mom?" Sherri asked. "Everyone!" Bev said. She closed her eyes and breathed three more breaths and then she was gone.”

As for the clothing for our spirits we call bodies, even the Savior’s disciples had difficulty believing in the resurrection of Jesus when they first learned of it. They still wondered about turning water into wine, so naturally this one would be no different. He had told them it would happen and had spoken of himself as “the resurrection, and the life.” (John 11:25.) Luke tells us that when the women found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb and the body of Jesus was gone, “They were much perplexed.” (Luke 24:14.) They were told by two angels that Jesus had risen from the dead. The women hurried and told these things to the eleven Apostles and to others, but “their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.” (Luke 24:4–11.)
Later that same day, Jesus appeared to the Apostles. They thought he was a spirit until he said to them: “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” (Luke 24:39.) They saw him, touched him, and heard him. “And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?” (Luke 24:41.) After they had given him fish and honey, they watched him eat. But because resurrection from the dead is miraculous and unnatural to our mortal world, it was difficult for them to believe what they had experienced.

The scientists say matter cannot be created or destroyed, only organized and reorganized. The elements (and DNA) which compose this temporal body will not perish in a shark’s belly or on a desert plain, will not cease to exist, but in the day of the resurrection these elements will come together again, bone to bone, and flesh to flesh. Our loved ones will look exactly as we remembered them, perhaps even better, but we will know them. They will not be butterflies or jaguars, but perfected human bodies without need of the blood of mortality. Our Master, the Creator of the Universe, made us once, he can, and he said he will do it again. This is a free gift.

As one last thought, from Phillipians chapter 4

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. "

Whenever you find yourself in sorrow because of Eleanor, remember the winter may seem long, but the Springtime of the Resurrection yet to come will be more glorious than we can imagine.