Goodbye is Not Goodbye

Goodbye is Not Goodbye                                                                            Barbara Flanagan

My friend Connie has gone to be with the Lord. I picture Him opening His arms and holding her, saying, "I'm so glad you're home!" She really didn't have to suffer long, compared to what it could have been. But all that suffering is over.

She was brilliant. When she graduated from high school, her parents couldn't afford for her to go to college, she took the Civil Service exam. Her score was so high, she was immediately sent to Washington, DC, to work for a high government agency. She had interesting tales to tell of her time there, including a time when she discovered a plot to blow up the World Trade Center as it was being built!

Life was rocky after that, but she raised three gentlemanly, refined sons, practically by herself. She worked as an account, being very steady-on and detailed. You could set your watch by her, she was so punctual. She exuded a quiet strength, which was as strong as steel. Connie was extremely unassuming.

But the strongest thing about her was her faith in God. It was quietly displayed in everything she did. Her humility was sometimes taken as weakness by those in her past. But weakness it was not. She lived out Isaiah 30:15, “In quietness and trust shall be your strength."  

Connie deeply loved her family. She was especially close to her granddaughters. She felt that God had given her a daughter-in-law to live with who was just about perfect. Her son and daughter-in-law had taken her in to help with their young daughters, while her son traveled. This arrangement may have benefited them, but Connie felt like it was a total blessing for her. She loved being there with them.

I will miss her. but so will many others. Her quiet life touched the lives of so many people.  A person can have influence on this planet for a period of time, but I think it was Christ in her (Colossians 1:27) that gave her such an attraction to others. It was the gift of a wonderful, giving personality through which God worked.

Life has purpose. There is meaning in our daily existence. God takes what is black and white in the life of a person and infuses bright, rich colors of meaning. This was seen vividly in Connie's life. I am so glad that she was my friend.

Goodbye is not goodbye. I will see her again