Measuring time before eternity!
“To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, NKJV)
On September 23, 2015 I went out to the cemetery as was my daily practice. When I arrived I saw the temporary marker was gone and the headstone had been placed. Needless to say, many tears fell that morning! The immediate thing that caught my eye was the dates under Pat’s name and the unfinished dates under mine. Her dash was completed with a date before and after. Mine only had a before. I want to talk about that dash.
I have read many good sermons and blog posts on the dash. I saw an excellent poem on the dash in my readings. But here, on September 23, 2015 I was confronted with mortality and immortality in a way I had never been confronted before! We all have this dash – it is the life we live from birth to death. The finality of the fact that Pat had died was staring me in the face. I pondered her dash – the incredible life she had lived between 1950 and 2015. One of the hardest things I had to do on July 18 was write Pat’s obituary:
Patricia Gayle Robbins went home to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on July 17, 2015. Pat was born on March 21, 1950 in Fort Worth, Texas to Marvin and Hazel Gibson. She grew up traveling all over Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico due to her father’s occupation as a seismic crew chief, discovering oil and gas. She graduated with honors from Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas and attended North Texas State University majoring in early childhood development. She worked several years as a medical insurance claim representative for Aetna Life and Casualty. She earned an Associate Degree in Business from Albany Junior College.
She met her husband, Jim Robbins, in San Antonio, Texas. They were married on March 20, 1976 at University Presbyterian Church. Pat and Jim had three children and traveled all across the United States with job transfers and promotions. Pat was very active in church choir, children’s church, camp, Christian education, drama, new church plants, sewing, quilting, cross stitch, embroidery and the Lions Club. Pat and Jim celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary on March 20, 2015. She had recently moved to The Villages, Florida with Jim to start retirement. Pat had a significant amount of health problems in her later life, many stemming from her Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy disease. In spite of all her difficulties she was a radiant and loving person.
She is survived by her husband of 39 years, Jim Robbins, her daughter Katie Guist (36), her son Andy (30), her brother Steve Gibson and his wife Sharon and their daughters Ashley and Kari, her brother Mark Gibson and his wife Liz and their sons, and many aunts and uncles and cousins. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Jamie Elizabeth Robbins, her mother Hazel Hudson Gibson, and her father Marvin A. Gibson. Services will be held at Beyers Funeral Home in Lady Lake, Florida with interment at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Leesburg, Florida. In lieu of flowers, donations in Pat’s memory to the Muscular Dystrophy Association would be deeply appreciated.
I was an intimate part of Pat’s life for 40 years – almost 2/3 of her life! She packed so much living into the 65 years she was allowed on earth. I often tell folks that Pat has been gone 2 years as we determine time, because time no longer controls her! What a wonderful thing it would be to put a dash after her last year and link it to the eternity symbol! I truly may check into that.
Notice that the cross is on the headstone – that is no mistake. We both served our Lord Jesus together and separately. I had the awesome experience to baptize Pat, Andy and Katie! Pat was deeply in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. She was a shining beacon to me in our marriage.
Now, God has given me this incredible ministry to honor my dear sweet bride’s memory and to fulfill his calling on my life.
LESSON LEARNED: We were made to live a legacy – a legacy that glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ! Even in the midst of mourning, we can serve Him in ways we never believed were possible! Do not let your mourning and grief get you away from that dash – even though your gorgeous bride has gone on to heaven because God was finished, since there is no number on the right side of your dash, He is not finished with you! Take solace in that! Find out what He has left for you to do!
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Pressing Toward the Goal
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3: 7-14, NKJV)
Widower's Walk 