Ruth Bell Graham

"To be absent here is to be present with the King of all Kings"

That's what I told Dh just a couple weeks ago. I was refusing to see death as a sad thing. The person we were talking about was a great Christian and there was no doubt to where he had entered leaving this place. But, today...well, I am sad. I am sad for the Graham Family and my deepest sympathies go out to their family. What a beautiful Christian woman! She will live on in her writings, of course.

With that being said:

And when I die I hope my soul ascends slowly,
so that I may watch the earth receding out of sight,
its vastness growing smaller as I rise, savoring its recession with delight.
Anticipating joy is itself a joy
And joy unspeakable and full of glory needs more than “in a twinkling of an eye,”
more than “in a moment.”
Lord, who am I to disagree?
It’s only we have much to leave behind, so much … Before.
These moments of transition will, for me, be time to adore.

by Ruth Bell Graham, from Collected Poems, Page 162