Chapter .5

Chapter .5:
May was one of the last to enter through the Centre gates that fateful day in February. The cold iron arm opened to accept her in, as she pondered the lengthy trip and the tedious days that proceeded the present. She began reflecting on time that slipped away in the previous weeks. She became teary. May knew the nature of dying had taken residency in her heart. It had finished. There were no more loose ends to wrap up and there was no one else to bid farewell.

The parting was so beautiful that it was a bit absurd. It was as though she had died and was looking down at the gathering at her own wake. Comrades stood one by one sharing magnificent memories, mixed with humorous stories of their times spent together. Thick sweetness was felt when the glory for those relationships truly was given back to the Father. She knew everyone deserved a farewell of such splendor and that no one (including herself) deserved a farewell at all.

As the vehicle slowly advanced through the iron arms, May bit her tongue, as if that would control her eyes from filling with watery emotion. She remembered the grace extended and the whispers up to the Father that had gotten her here. She knew she was leaving a community of friends and about to enter one of acquaintances and she recognized that moment to be a ballet of bitterness and sweetness. She glanced over her shoulder to see the arms tightening shut, she allowed herself one last moment to savor the past seven years. May closed her eyes and silently asked the father to grant her a heart similar to the heart of those friend’s who had loved her, that she could love and encourage those she were to encounter in the same way her life had been touched. She opened her eyes knowing He had ended one chapter in order that He may continue the chronicles of her life, a life of attempted obedience.