A Thought About Barb

This week we have been deeply saddened by the passing of our sister Barb Palmer; a long time friend and treasured member of our church who was taken from us after an extensive battle with cancer. We loved her and we will miss her dearly.

As God’s children what are we to think when a tragedy such as this hits us and shakes us to the core. It is hard to understand why a life is cut so short. We cannot explain why they are taken away from us. It just does not seem fair.  But sometimes it does happen, and as a child of God it can really stretch and test our faith. That is when we need to cling to the Lord’s promise that if we trust Him, He will work all things together for our good and His glory. (Romans 8:28)

However, for Barb and for others like her who seem to be taken from us far too early, they are in good company.  Jesus Himself did not live a long time on this earth, and that was because the Father had a work for Him to do in His death that could not be done otherwise. Somehow in the grace and providence of God those precious servants who are taken from us to heaven have been chosen by God to do a work that could not be done in any other way except in death.

This following little illustration I found might help you to understand God’s perspective of what seems to us be a short-lived life and untimely death such as Barb’s.

There was once a gardener who was tending roses for his master. There was one rose in particular that was special to the master, and the master had assigned the gardener to care for that beautiful white rose. Oh, how he cared for it. He fertilized it, pruned it, trimmed it, and watered it. That white rose was blossoming and it was beautiful.

One day the gardener walked through the garden to discover that the white rose was gone. He looked everywhere for it. He was frantic; in a complete panic. As he was going in to give the bad news to the master that his prize rose was gone, he walked into the master’s quarters, and there on the master’s mantle, clipped and in a vase, was the rose. The gardener had cared for and nurtured that rose. “Why have you cut it?”, he gasped. “What are you doing?” “What were you thinking?”

The master replied, “I thought you were tending that rose for me. I had entrusted it to your care but that rose was mine and I had a great need, a need for that rose to be with me.”  Well, the gardener then understood.

In life, God sometimes reaches down and clips a beautiful rose, but do you know why He does it? It is because in the death of that precious one the Heavenly Father had a work and a purpose that could only be accomplished in that manner. God’s Word says: “Precious in the eyes of God is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15) And we know that precious in the eyes of God is the death of our dear sister Barb.  It is in these times that we must trust Him, and believe that He is in control.

Yes, Barb, our dear rose has been taken from us, but the memories of her Christlike example, and the beautiful fragrance of faithfulness, trust and love that she has left behind to inspire us will never ever be forgotten. Her Saviour, is our Saviour, and He has called her onto bigger and better things....and faithfully, on to Glory, she must go!