Daily Devotion - Monday, June 20

Heartsong for a Friend
Recalling a devotion, written on Friday, June 16, 2006

Five years ago a small group (chaplains and Social Service workers) was invited to a luncheon at the residence of a dying man. He wanted to have us come to his home to thank us for the care he and his wife had received during hospitalizations here at the hospital.

He was a sensitive soul who had experienced a great deal of success in life. They had moved here for a number of reasons from a beautiful home in California. His wife had died and then that Friday morning I received a call that he was reunited with his wife.

I was sad, but I was also very grateful. I was privileged to have my life graced by a very dear soul. With gratitude for the life and witness of Knapp Covington, I offer this prayer today:

O God,
You have given me memories to hold,
and I cherish that which I have known.
You have given me the memory of faces and voices;
through interaction I have grown.

Instill in me an energy to look toward eternal tomorrow
with sunrise eyes.
And in this day of tears,
may resurrection power begin to rise

So that through remembered graces of saints
who shared their hopes and dreams with me,
I may hold on to yesterday memory,
reaching toward an anticipated tomorrow I can’t see
where peace is a way of life and love is the song that’s sung.

Holy One, empower me now in this week that is just begun.

--Ben Keckler
06.20.11