The Stone beside me marked the resting place
of somebody’s BELOVED WIFE
who died in 1805 OF A FEVER.
Beneath her name was a line of script,
almost indistinguishable.
I looked close,
wondering which biblical phrase
her grieving children might have chosen.
But it was not a quotaton;
but a statement:
EVER SHE SOUGHT THE BEST, EVER FOUND IT.
Eight words,
I stood there with my fingers on the cool stone,
feeling the present fade
and the past stir behind the illusion we call time.
A century ago
this woman had been living through a hideous war.
Perhaps it took her husband from her,
perhaps her sons.
When it ended
her country was beaten, broken, improverished.
Yet someone who knew her had written
that she always looked for the best,
and always found it.
There was courage in those words,
and dignity, and purpose.
And a kind of triumph, too,
as if they contained a secret of inestimatable value.
What you look for in life,
they seem to be saying,
you will surely find.
But the direction in which you look is up to you.
Arthur Gordon
But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33
Thoughts of Grace 